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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Saga of Halfred the Sigskald
+       A Northern Tale of the Tenth Century
+
+Author: Felix Dahn
+
+Translator: Sophie F. E. Veitch
+
+Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32443]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+Source: http://www.archive.org/details/sagahalfredsigs00veitgoog
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  SAGA
+
+                                   OF
+
+                          HALFRED THE SIGSKALD
+
+
+                     _A Northern Tale of the Tenth_
+                               _Century_
+
+
+
+                                   BY
+                              FELIX DAHN.
+
+
+
+                   TRANSLATED BY SOPHIE F. E. VEITCH.
+
+
+
+                           ALEXANDER GARDNER,
+                PAISLEY; AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+                                 1886.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+  CHAPTER I.,
+  CHAPTER II.,
+  CHAPTER III.,
+  CHAPTER IV.,
+  CHAPTER V.,
+  CHAPTER VI.,
+  CHAPTER VII.,
+  CHAPTER VIII.,
+  CHAPTER IX.,
+  CHAPTER X.,
+  CHAPTER XI.,
+  CHAPTER XII.,
+  CHAPTER XIII.,
+  CHAPTER XIV.,
+  CHAPTER XV.,
+  CHAPTER XVI.,
+  CHAPTER XVII.,
+  CHAPTER XVIII.,
+  CHAPITER XIX.,
+  POSTSCRIPT,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     Saga of Halfred the Sigskald.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Nigh upon fifty winters ago, there was growing up in the North a boy
+named Halfred. In Iceland, on the Hamund Fjord, stood the splendid hall
+of his father, Hamund.
+
+At that time, so the heathen people believe, elves and goblins still
+moved about freely among the Northern nations. And many say that an
+elf, who had been friendly to the powerful Hamund, drew near to the
+shield cradle of the boy Halfred, and for his first food laid wild
+honey upon his lips, and said--
+
+           "Victory shall be thine in harping--
+            Victory shall be thine in singing--
+            Sigskald shall all nations name thee."
+
+But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people.
+
+And Halfred grew, and was strong and beautiful. He sat often alone on
+the cliffs, and listened how the wind played in rifts in the crags, and
+he would fain have tuned his harp to the same strain, and because he
+could not do it he was filled with fury.
+
+And when this fury swept over his forehead the veins in his temples
+swelled, and there came a red darkness before his eyes. And then his
+arm sometimes did that whereof his head knew nothing.
+
+When his father died Halfred took the seat of honour in the hall. But
+he took no heed to preserve or improve his inheritance. He gave himself
+up to harp playing and feats of arms. He devised a new strain in
+singing, "Halfred's strain," which greatly charmed all who heard it,
+and in which none could imitate him. And in hatchet throwing, not one
+of the men of Iceland could equal him. He dashed his hammer through
+three shields, and at two ships' lengths he would not miss with its
+sharp edge a finger broad arrow shaft.
+
+His mind was now set upon building a dragon ship, strong and splendid,
+worthy of a Viking, wherein he might make voyages, to harry or levy
+toll upon island and mainland, or to play his harp in the halls of
+kings.
+
+And through many an anxious night he considered how he should build his
+ship, and could devise no plan. Yet the image of the ship was always
+before his eyes, as it must be, with prow and stem, with board and bow;
+and instead of a dragon it must carry a silver swan on the prow.
+
+And when, one morning, he came out of the hall, and looked out over the
+Fjord, towards the north, there, from the south-south-east, came
+floating into Hamund's Bay a mighty ship, with swelling sails. Then
+Halfred and his house-churls seized their weapons, and hurried out
+either to drive away or welcome the sailors. Ever nearer drove the
+ship, but neither helmet nor spear flashed on board, and though they
+shouted through the trumpet all was still. Then Halfred and his
+followers sprang into the boat, and rowed to the great ship, and saw
+that it was altogether empty, and climbed on board. And this was the
+most splendid dragon ship that ever spread sail on the salt seas. But
+instead of a dragon it bore a silver swan upon the prow.
+
+And moreover also, Halfred told me, the ship was in all things the
+same as the image he had seen in his night and day dreams; forty oars
+in iron rowlocks, the deck pavillioned with shields, the sails
+purple-striped, the prow carved with runes against breakers, and the
+ropes of sea-dogs' skin. And the high-arched silver wings of the swan
+were ingeniously carved, and the wind rushed through them with a
+melodious sound.
+
+And Halfred sprang up to the seat of honour on the upper-deck, upon
+which lay spread a purple royal mantle, and a silver harp, with a
+swan's head, leaned against it.
+
+And Halfred said--
+
+           "Singing Swan shalt thou be called, my ship;
+            Singing and victorious shalt thou sail."
+
+And many said the elf who had given him his name had sent the Singing
+Swan to him.
+
+But that is an idle tale of the heathen people. For it has often
+happened that slightly anchored ships have broken away in storms, while
+the seamen were carousing ashore.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+
+And forthwith it became known that Halfred had armed the best of his
+house churls, and his followers, with good weapons, to set forth as a
+Viking to conquer, and as a Skald to sing.
+
+And over the whole of Iceland, and the islands all around, there was
+much talk about the Singing Swan, which "Oski"[1] himself--that is the
+god of the heathen people--had sent to Halfred Hamundson. "He is the
+son of Oski; nothing shall miscarry with him, be it man's hate, or
+woman's love, in sword thrusts, or in harp playing; great treasure and
+rich Skald rewards shall he win, and his gentle hand can take and
+spend, but keep nothing."
+
+And now there came many, drawn to him by the wish to be his sailing
+comrades, even from the furthest islands of the western sea, so that he
+could have manned seven ships. He manned, however, only the Singing
+Swan, with three hundred men whom he chose himself, and with them he
+set sail upon the sea.
+
+And now there would be much which might be told about the great
+victories which Halfred won, through many long years, with hammer
+and harp, on all the seas from Mikilgard--which the Latins call
+Byzantium--even to the island of Hibernia, in the far west.
+
+And of all these feats and victories, voyages and minstrelsy, and
+contests of arms and harp playing, had I, as a child by the cloister
+hearth, heard the Skalds sing, and wandering guests recount, long
+before I looked into Halfred's sea-grey eyes.
+
+For during the long time that he was wholly lost sight of, and the
+Singing Swan had vanished in flames, and all people held Halfred for
+dead, the Skalds composed many songs about him. But that was later.
+
+At that time Halfred thus roamed about everywhere, singing and
+triumphing, winning fights at sea, and contests in palaces. And because
+he was victor over all the Skalds in singing competitions, the people
+named him "Sigskald," and from that, the heathen people, prophesying
+backwards, invented, perhaps, that fable about the elf which had given
+him honey, and his name, in the cradle.
+
+And he amassed great spoils, and many hundred rings of red gold, and
+gave them all away again to his sailing comrades. And yet he still
+heaped up rich hords upon the Singing Swan; and brought also much
+treasure to Hamund's hall, where he was wont to pass the winter.
+
+And he splendidly improved the hall, and built over against it a great
+Mead hall, in which a thousand men could drink: and six steps led to
+the seat of honour in the Mead hall.
+
+But the most costly thing among all his spoils was a
+candelabrum--"Lampas" the Greeks call it--half as high as a man, of
+pure gold, with seven flaming arms, which far away, in the land of
+Greece, he had borne away from a marble city that he had burned.
+
+And this treasure Halfred himself prized highly, who otherwise cared
+nothing for gold. And at the Yule feast, and the Midsummer feast, and
+at all high festivals, it must stand close before him upon the table,
+with its sevenfold flame.
+
+But that at which everyone wondered most was, that all people who saw
+Halfred, and heard him sing, seemed to be forced to be friendly to him.
+It often happened that even the Skalds whom he vanquished in song
+contests, themselves conceived great love for him, and praised his
+strains more than their own.
+
+But this is truly the most incredible thing that can be told of Skalds.
+Compared to this it is a small thing that a wooer whom he had
+supplanted in a woman's favour should become his friend and blood
+brother. But that was later.
+
+And, indeed, because everything seemed miraculous, those heathen people
+invented that legend that he was the son of Oski, and that therefore
+neither men's wrath nor maiden's pride could withstand him; that a god
+was throned upon his forehead, who dazzled all eyes; with many more
+such fables.
+
+Above all they say that his smile could conquer all hearts, as the
+midsummer sun melts the ice.
+
+And about this also they tell a story.
+
+That is, that once, in the depth of winter, he found at the foot of
+Snaeja-Tjoell, a little maiden of five years old, nearly frozen to
+death. She had strayed from her mother's cottage, and could not find
+the way back.
+
+And although Halfred was very weary, and had many followers with him,
+he sent them all nevertheless alone to the hall, took the child himself
+upon his shoulder, and travelled many stages further, always tracking
+the tiny footprints of the little maiden, who had fallen fast asleep,
+until he found her mother's cottage. And he laid the child in the
+mother's arms, and she woke and smiled. And the mother wished for him,
+as a reward, that he should smile henceforth like a child that sees its
+mother again. And this also had Oski granted to him.
+
+But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people; for there is no
+Oski; and no heathen gods; and perchance also no[2] .... I say that he
+carried the child back himself, carefully, to the mother. Many a Viking
+would only, from compassion, have thrust her deeper in the snow; the
+best would have given her to one of his followers to carry to the hall.
+But to carry her back, himself, through the snow, to her mother, that
+would no Viking have done that I know; above all when he was tired and
+hungry.
+
+I say, then, in Halfred there was great goodness of heart, such as is
+generally wont to be found alone in innocent children; and therefore
+his smile was heart-winning, as is a child's smile. And out of this,
+therefore, have the heathen people invented that gift of Oski.
+
+For that he did carry the child to the mother, that I certainly,
+myself, fully and undoubtingly believe of Halfred. And I would be the
+last not to believe it of him.
+
+Nevertheless he could become suddenly very wrathful, when the veins in
+his temples swelled. Then, often, if any enemy roused him by defiance,
+he would dash, blindly raging, among the spears, like a Berseker.
+
+Over and above all this, they tell many tales of the god-like gifts
+which made maidens love him. But that is not a miracle, as it comes
+very near being that a conquered singer should love him.
+
+For he possessed a brilliant noble countenance, which no one forgot who
+had once seen it, and a heart-winning soft, yet powerful voice. He
+avoided rude jesting; and he could always divine what was the peculiar
+charm of every fair maiden's beauty; and he knew how to put it to her
+as a riddle, over which she herself had long been vainly pondering.
+
+But other riddles, also, he knew well how to find out.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+
+And thus had Halfred now, for many years, roamed about as a Viking and
+as a Skald, and had won fame and red gold; and once more he again
+celebrated the Yule feast at home in his hall.
+
+And there were very many hundred men assembled there in the Mead hall
+which he had fitted up. All his sailing comrades, and very many
+Icelanders, and many foreign guests, from Austrvegr, and even from
+Hylmreck, and Dyflin, on the western sea. Among them also the Skald,
+Vandrad, from Tiunderland.
+
+And the Bragi cup[3] passed round, and many men vowed vows thereon, and
+many a one pledged himself to daring deeds, which he would perform
+before Midsummertide, or die. Halfred also, as well as the guests, had
+drunk a great deal of mead; more than he was wont to drink, as he
+himself, afterwards, earnestly told me.
+
+And this also the heathen point to in him as a miraculous gift of his
+father Oski; that he could drink far far more than other men, in
+fact--and they hold him therein very lucky--as many horns full as he
+chose, without the heron of forgetfulness[4] sweeping through his
+dizzied brain.
+
+But this is foolishly said, for even I can scare away the heron, if I,
+after each draught, think quietly to myself, and do not propose many
+toasts; for such attract the heron.
+
+Halfred had now certainly emptied many horns; but as yet he had vowed
+no vow. Silent and grave he sat in the seat of the honour, as befitted
+the host; exhorted the tardy drinkers--there were not however many of
+them--by sending the cup bearer to them, with the drinking horn; and
+smiled quietly, when many a one vowed vows which he would never fulfil.
+
+Then arose from his seat Vandrad the Skald, from Tiunderland, and stood
+upon the second step of the dais, and spoke. Halfred had vanquished him
+five times, and yet the Skald was a faithful loving friend to him--
+
+     "Vows have here been now vowed by many
+      Guests of small worth.
+      But Halfred, the Lord of the mead hall,
+      Still holds his thoughts hidden.
+      I laud him, most lofty,
+      No vows hath he need of,
+      His name may content him.
+      Yet I miss in the mead hall
+      One thing to the mighty,
+      To the man is awanting
+      A maiden to wife.
+      What rapture if only,
+      From the high seat of honour,
+      The horn to us, downward,
+      The dazzling white hand
+      Of the nobly born Princess,
+      Harthild, should hold."
+
+All the guests kept silence when Vandrad had spoken. Halfred looked
+proudly down upon him, and very gently, he told me later, he felt the
+veins in his temples swell, as, smiling, he asked the Skald--but it was
+the smile of a king, not a child's smile--
+
+     "And what then of Harthild,
+      Her beauty and fame,
+      Canst thou here sound the praise,
+      In Halfred's mead hall?"
+
+Then said Vandrad--
+
+     "For all that thou knowest,
+      Thou far roaming Viking,
+      Hast thou never heard Harthild's
+      Descent and renown
+      Proclaimed on the harp?
+      From Upsala's ancient
+      Deep rooted stem
+      The maiden is sprung.
+      Hartstein the Haggard,
+      Men call her father,
+      The powerful monarch
+      Of far spreading fame.
+      His daughter close guarded
+      He haughtily holds;
+      All wooers rejecting,
+      Who cannot excel him
+      In throwing the hammer.
+      And no less the maiden
+      All men avoideth,
+      Man-like her own mood.
+      With good cause she boasteth
+      Herself in deep riddles
+      Above all the Skalds
+      Skilful to be.
+      'Breaker of men's wits'
+      In dread and in envy,
+      They call her in Nordland.
+      To every wooer
+      Who fain her proud spirit
+      In wedlock would bind,
+      Tells she the same
+      Close sealed riddle;
+      For none--not the wisest--
+      Has ever yet solved it.
+      Then scornfully laughing,
+      With her sharp scissors,
+      --For so runs the statute--
+      To shame him, she sheareth
+      From the hero his hair."
+
+Then Halfred's temple veins swelled fearfully. He shook back the thick
+black locks which flowed down even to his shoulders, and drained off a
+deep drinking horn. Then he sprang from his seat, and seized the Bragi
+cup, on which vows were wont to be vowed. Once more he paused, set down
+the Bragi cup again, and asked--
+
+     "But Skald, say now, quickly,
+      --Oft hast thou seen her--
+      This men avoider.
+      Beautiful is she?
+      This breaker of men's wits,
+      Would the bride's wreath become her?"
+
+Vandrad replied--
+
+     "Nor soft nor gentle,
+      Is she, nor lovely,
+      But proud and stately
+      Stands her tall form.
+      Nor could another
+      Carry so fitly
+      The crown of a king."
+
+Then Halfred again took up the Bragi cup, strode forward to the highest
+step which led to his seat of honour, and paused where exactly in the
+centre was burned into the oaken floor a circle, in red runes, so small
+that a man could only tread therein with one foot. Halfred kneeled
+down, planted his left foot within the circle, and lifted the Bragi cup
+in his right hand, high above his head.
+
+And all were very eager to hear what he would now say; for this was the
+strongest, the most solemn form in which vow could be vowed. And
+Halfred said--
+
+           "Ere yet the on coming
+            Midsummer tide
+            Shall sink in the sea,
+            Will I bring Harthild,
+            The daughter of Hartstein,
+            Here as my wife,
+            To dwell in my hall,
+            Or hold me shall Hell.
+
+           "Her wit-breaking sayings
+            Will I lay bare,
+            Her runic riddles
+            Will I unfold.
+            Unshamed, and unshaven,
+            These black locks shake freely.
+            Her man-despising
+            Maiden mood quelling,
+            My wedded wife
+            Will force her to be.
+            The breaker of men's wits
+            Will I break in.
+            A right noble heir
+            Of all that I own
+            She shall here, in my hall,
+            Soon cherish, my son.
+            And softly shall sing him
+            To sleep with the songs
+            Of his father's great deeds,
+            Or hold me shall Hell."
+
+Thus ended the Yule feast, at that time; for all the guests started up
+from their seats with a great uproar, in a confused throng, and drank
+to Halfred, and shouted that this was the best and most admirable vow
+which in the memory of man had been vowed in the north.
+
+And the tumult was so great that Halfred had to command silence from
+the dais, and very soon to send round the parting cup to the uproarious
+heroes.
+
+And Halfred told me that when, under the light of the stars, he crossed
+the court to his dwelling-house, he repented of his vow. Not because he
+feared King Hartstein's hammer-throwing, or dreaded his daughter's
+riddle. But because it is always wiser for a man to see a maiden,
+before he determines to make her his wife.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+And so soon as the Austr-Vogen was free from ice, the Singing Swan
+sailed towards Svearike, and through numberless perils into the great
+sea which lies to the south and east of Upland; and from thence she
+followed a river, as far as there was floating depth, upwards towards
+Tiunderland, and to Upsala.
+
+And many will now believe that Halfred had a great struggle and much
+difficulty to overcome King Hartstein and his daughter, and will expect
+to hear how it came to pass.
+
+But there is nothing to tell; for everything went easily and quickly
+with him, according to his wishes, which the heathen people again
+boasted had been thus arranged by Oski.
+
+King Hartstein was, in general, a flinty-hearted man, full of
+suspicion, and short of speech. When, however, he saw Halfred, and
+called to him as he entered his hall, and drew near to the throne, and
+asked him--"Stranger, what desirest thou in Tiunderland, and of King
+Hartstein?"--And when Halfred, with that smile which Oski had bestowed
+upon him, looked into the fierce eyes, and joyously replied--"The best
+will I have that Tiunderland and King Hartstein possess--his daughter."
+Then the grim old man was at once won, and in his secret heart he
+wished that Halfred might be his son-in-law.
+
+And then they went out to the court for the hammer-throwing, and the
+King threw well, but Halfred threw far better, and thus the first trial
+was won.
+
+"Harder will thou find the second," said the old man, and led Halfred
+to the Skemma, the chamber of the women, where the breaker of men's
+wits, in a shining dark blue mantle, sat among her maidens, a head
+taller than any of them.
+
+And they say that when Halfred entered the chamber, and his glance fell
+upon her, a hot tremor passed over her, and a sudden glow dyed her
+cheeks crimson, and confused her.
+
+Certain it is that with a golden spindle, with which she had played
+rather than spun, she pricked her finger, and let it fall with a
+clatter.
+
+But Sudha, the foremost of her maidens, the captive daughter of the
+King of Halogaland, who sat at her right hand, picked up the spindle,
+and held it. And many interpreted this later, as a bad omen. At the
+time, however, it was hardly observed.
+
+And Vandrad the Skald said later to Halfred, that the woman had
+been elf-struck at the first sight of him: but he thereupon said
+earnestly--"It had been better had I been elf-struck at sight of her;
+but I remained unwounded."
+
+And forthwith King Hartstein assembled all his courtiers, and the women
+of the castle, and the guests, in the hall, for the riddle solving.
+
+And Harthild arose from the arm chair at his right hand, and her face
+grew crimson as she looked at Halfred, which--as they declare--had
+never before happened to her at the challenging of her riddle.
+
+She paused for a space, looked downwards, then again upon Halfred, and
+now with searching and defiant eyes. And she began--
+
+           "What is held in Valhalla?
+            What is hidden in Hell?
+            What hammers in hammer?
+            And heads the strong helm?
+            What begins the host slaughter?
+            What closes a sigh?
+            And what holds in Harthild
+            The head and the heart?"
+
+Then she would have seated herself, as was her wont after giving out
+the riddle; but struck by terror she remained standing, and grasped the
+arm of the chair; for Halfred, without any reflecting, stretched his
+right hand towards her, and spoke--
+
+           "Hast thou nothing harder,
+            Haughty one, hidden?
+            Then wreathe thy proud head
+            For Hymen in haste,
+            For what's held in Valhalla,
+            What's hidden in Hell,
+            What hammers in hammer,
+            And heads the strong helm,
+            What begins the host slaughter,
+            And closes a sigh,
+            What Harthild the haughty
+            The head and the heart holds,
+            What hovers deep hidden
+            In high thoughts of her heart,
+            And what here has Halfred
+            To proud Harthild holpen,
+            'Tis the Sacred Rune
+            The hero's own H."
+
+Then Harthild sank pale with rage in her chair, and covered her head
+with her veil.
+
+But when Hartstein, her father, drew near amidst loud cries of
+astonishment from the listeners in the hall, and would have drawn the
+veil from her face, she sprang up vehemently, threw back the veil--and
+they saw that she had wept--and cried in a harsh voice--
+
+           "Well has thou solved
+            The hidden riddle.
+            With mighty wit
+            Hast won a wife,
+            Woe to thee if tenderly
+            Thou usest her not!"
+
+All kept silence, uneasy at these threatening unloving words. Halfred
+at length broke the stillness, he threw back his head, and shook his
+black locks, and laughed--"I will risk that! King Hartstein, this very
+day will I pay thee the bride's dower. When prepare we the bridal
+feast?"
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+King Hartstein, however, wished for delay, until Hartvik and Eigil
+should have returned from a campaign. Then their reception feast and
+the marriage could be celebrated together.
+
+Hartvik was the king's son, and Harthild's own brother; and Eigil was
+son to the king's brother, and Harthild's cousin.
+
+And he would willingly have taken Harthild away as his wife, but she
+had said to him, "If thou failest to solve my riddle, thy shorn locks
+will cause thee affliction; and if thou solvest my riddle, and I become
+thy wife, that will cause thee still deeper affliction, for no love for
+thee dwells in my heart: and woe to him who without love wins me for
+his wife."
+
+Then Eigil sadly gave it up, although he was a good riddle solver.
+
+And when Hartvik and Eigil were returned there soon grew to be a great
+friendship between Halfred and Hartvik, and Halfred and Eigil, and both
+loved him so well that they said they would lay down their lives for
+him.
+
+And this between Halfred and Hartvik is no great wonder, because
+Halfred always won all men's hearts.
+
+But it may well astonish many that Eigil also should thus love him, who
+still cherished as much love to Harthild as formerly; and who yet
+clearly saw, as all who had eyes could see, that the harsh maiden was
+quite filled with love to Halfred.
+
+And jealousy does not often allow it to be admitted that the
+nightingale has a more charming voice than the carrion crow.
+
+Hartvik and Egil, however, loved Halfred so dearly that they begged him
+to receive them as his blood brothers.
+
+And on the day before the wedding feast was prepared, therefore,
+Hartvik and Eigil became Halfred's blood brethren.
+
+They stood with him, as the heathen people do, under a strip of turf,
+which was lifted on spear points above their heads, the two ends still
+cleaving to the ground, and they mixed the blood which flowed from
+gashes in their right arms down upon the black earth beneath their
+feet.
+
+And therewith they vowed their heads for ever to the infernal gods if
+ever one of the blood brothers should desert the other, in danger or in
+need. And so strongly does this oath bind, that even against his own
+kith and kin, yea even against his own father, must one blood brother
+stand by the other, even until death.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+On the day after the wedding, however, Halfred rode alone into the pine
+wood. He said he wished to think, and he refused Harthild, who would
+have ridden with him, and also his blood brethren.
+
+Darkly Harthild looked after him as he rode out of the court. But
+Sudha, the beautiful daughter of the King of Halogaland, also looked
+after him from an overhanging window, and slowly stroked her blue black
+hair back from her temples.
+
+Vandrad the Skald, however, who often staid at Hartstein's Court, and
+who was there at that time, had long cherished love for Sudha. And he
+had often begged her freedom from King Hartstein, but in vain; the
+stern man had always denied him.
+
+And heretofore she had not listened unwillingly when he sang. But when
+in these days he drew near to her, and spoke of a song which he had
+composed in her praise, she turned away and said--"On the lips of one
+only have the gods laid honey."
+
+And when in the evening Halfred returned from the pinewood towards the
+royal castle, he was leading his weary horse by the bridle, for the
+moon shone but fitfully through storm-rent clouds, there sat upon the
+runic-stone hard by the road a closely veiled woman, and she cried to
+him and said--
+
+"Halfred Hamundson, whereof on the first day of thy marriage, ridest
+thou alone in the pinewood?"
+
+"If thou knowest that, O wise Vala," said Halfred, pausing--and he
+heaved a sigh--"then knowest thou more than Halfred Hamundson."
+
+"I will tell thee," replied the veiled one. "Thou hast sought a woman,
+and found what is nigher to a man, rough, harsh, and devoid of charm.
+The Singing Swan hath paired thee with the vulture's brood. Thou
+chosest the hard flint stone, near to it lay glowing at thy feet the
+rose, exhaling fragrance towards thee."
+
+Then Halfred sprang upon his horse, and cried to the veiled one--
+
+"Nobler hold I it in a woman to be too cold, than too ardent." And he
+dashed away.
+
+And only once, as he told me, he looked back. So beautiful, he said,
+had she never before been, in the full light of day, as now in the
+moonlight, her black eyes glittered--for she had torn off her head
+covering--and she called after him by his name, "Halfred," and her
+blue-black hair fluttered round her in the night wind like a ghostly
+veil.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+And when the depth of winter was passed, and the spring was come,
+Halfred sent a message to Upsala, to King Hartstein, that at the
+midsummer tide Dame Harthild should bear a child.
+
+And the wise women had thrown runic rods over her seven times, and had
+learned each time by unerring signs that the child should be a son. And
+already was his name chosen, "Sigurd Sigskaldson."
+
+And Halfred bade the king, and Hartvik and Eigil, and Vandred the
+Skald, and all the people from the castle at Upsala, as many as the
+ships would hold, to be his guests at Hamund's hall, twenty nights
+before the midsummer tide.
+
+And there, at the birth and naming of the boy, a great feast should be
+held, such as had never before been held in Iceland.
+
+And King Hartstein gave answer that he and all his people, as many as
+twelve ships could carry, would come as bidden, to the feast.
+
+Thus at the beginning of the month of roses came King Hartstein, and
+Hartvik, and Eigil, and many hundred men from the castle at Upsala; and
+people from all parts of Tiunderland.
+
+And among the women who came also, the first that descended from the
+ship was Sudha. She had begged that she might come, out of longing to
+see Harthild.
+
+And again there was close friendship between Halfred and his
+blood-brethren, Hartvik and Eigil. They shared their table and bread
+and salt.
+
+Thus they waited the birth of the heir of the hall, on the midsummer
+day, and made ready a great feast in the Mead hall.
+
+Rich hangings of silken and woven stuffs which Halfred had borne away
+from the islands of Greece were spread upon the wooden walls of the
+drinking hall; the floor was strewn deep with rushes and clean straw,
+and the tables and benches were set out in two long rows, and one cross
+row.
+
+On all the pillars of the walls were hung curiously interlaced weapons,
+which the Viking had gathered from boarded ships, stormed castles, and
+victorious battlefields. But on sideboards around were set out the many
+cups and horns of gold, silver, bronze, amber, and precious horn, which
+the Sigskald had won, by singing in the halls of kings.
+
+But straight before Halfred towered the lofty candalabrum from Greece,
+with its seven flaming arms.
+
+Eigil and Hartvik were to sit on his left hand, the guests from
+Tiunderland and the other strangers on the long benches to the right,
+the house churls and islanders on the long benches to the left of the
+dais. And the most honoured guests had even cushions for the back,
+brought from a pillared marble house which had been burnt on the coast
+of Rumaberg.
+
+The women, however, were not to come into the hall, but to tarry with
+Harthild, and await her hour in the chamber of the women.
+
+This was all splendidly ordered, and Halfred himself told me that
+never, neither as guest nor as host, had he seen such magnificent
+festival preparations.
+
+Two days before the feast, as Halfred, wearied with the summer heat,
+lay upon his couch after the mid-day meal, Sudha glided softly through
+the doorway, and stood before him, and spoke--
+
+
+  "Halfred, skill in song, victory and fame have been thine for
+    twenty years.
+   A wife hast thou had for one year--an heir shalt thou have but now.
+   But never hast thou known Freya's gift--Love's Fulness--
+   Contradict me not--thine eye shuns Dame Harthild's seeking glance;
+   And when thou dreamingly sweepest the strings of thy harp,
+    thou gazest
+   Not in Dame Harthild's cold hard face, but upwards towards
+    the stars.
+   Halfred, not in the clouds dwelleth that for which thou yearnest.
+   Not from the stars shall it float down upon thee; upon the
+    earth it wanders,
+   It is a woman, who with love's charm, with woman's magic,
+    can subdue the Singing Swan--
+   Woe to thee if thou never findest her--
+   What though thou win all fame with sword and harp--the
+    best is still denied thee.
+   Askest thou what maketh me so wise, and withal so daring?
+   Love, love's fulness for thee, thou rich yet poor Sigskald.
+   Behold, I am but a woman--a captive--but I tell thee there
+    is heroism even for women.
+   I have sworn by the infernal gods, as I crossed thy threshold,
+    that here, in Iceland, I will win thy love, or die."
+
+
+Then Halfred arose from his couch, and spoke--
+
+
+  "Wisdom and madness mingled hast thou spoken. There speaks from
+    thee more than Sudha. There speaks a soul stricken of the gods.
+   Horror and compassion seize upon me. I will demand thy
+    freedom from King Hartstein. Then journey homewards to Halagoland.
+   There mayest thou find happiness in the arms of some valiant hero.
+   But here, let Dame Harthild's rights and hearth be sacred
+    unto thee. Disturb not her happiness."
+
+
+And he seized his spear and strode out. But Sudha cried after him, so
+that he still heard her--"Her happiness? Long has she divined her
+misery. Soon shall she clearly perceive, the haughty one, that she is
+more unspeakably wretched than Sudha."
+
+Then, the evening of the same day, she called to her Vandrad the Skald,
+who still always cherished great love for her, to the well in the
+court, as though she would beg him to draw up for her from the depth
+the heavy water bucket. This did Vandrad later, when dying, himself
+tell Halfred.
+
+But when he had raised the bucket to the edge of the well, she lightly
+laid a finger on his bare arm, and said--
+
+"Vandrad, come hither to-night, just when the star Oervandil is
+mirrored in this well. Thou shall tell me all that formerly came to
+pass here, about that oath on the Bragi cup."
+
+Vandrad considered within himself, and he looked doubtingly at her.
+
+Then she said--"Vandrad, I swear to thee by [5]Freya's throat jewels
+that I will become thy wife when I leave this island. Wilt thou now
+come and tell me all?"
+
+Then Vandrad swore to do what she required.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+And now the midsummer feast was magnificently celebrated in the hall.
+And there were full a thousand guests within the hall; but many
+hundreds of the servants and bondmen were camped round about the
+building, in the open air.
+
+Besides the guests from Svearike, there had come from all the
+neighbouring coasts and islands many jarl's and great chieftains. Thus
+from distant Iceland, the kings Konal, and Kiartan from Dyflin; from
+Zealand the Danish Jarl Hako, and Sveno from Lethra; then from West
+Gothaland the three brothers, Arnbiorn, Arngeir, and Arnolfr; Jarls of
+the Western Goths. There had long been a blood feud, which had been but
+newly allayed with blood money, between these three, and the two
+brothers Princes of East Gothaland, Helge and Helgrimr.
+
+And these two, and the other three, would only come with a strong
+well-armed following, when they understood that their adversaries had
+also been bidden to Halfred's feast.
+
+And Halfred had taken care that the followers of the Princes of West
+Gothaland should be lodged to the right, and those of East Gothaland to
+the left, at the back of the hall, in huts of pinewood. And a wooden
+wall with strongly closed doors divided the two encampments.
+
+But also from other vallies of Svearik, besides Tiunderland, from
+Tronland, from Herjadel, Jeutland, and Helsingaland, had come many
+guests, who had often of old been enemies to the people from
+Tiunderland.
+
+The feast, however, proceeded most joyously from daybreak even
+until the night. And when within the hall, and without, where the
+foreign servants were encamped, many fires and pine torches were
+kindled--before Halfred burned the seven armed candelabrum--it was at
+first a right jovial sun fire-feast.
+
+The men, swinging and emptying the drinking horns, sprang over the
+flames, and the Skalds, in songs which they composed at the moment they
+rose, vied with each other in praises of Halfred and his deeds with
+hammer and harp, and of the Singing Swan, and the hall, and the feast.
+
+And all the foreign kings also proclaimed that never had they seen so
+lordly a midsummer feast celebrated, neither at home, nor in the halls
+of any other host.
+
+Halfred sat with a joyful heart in the seat of honour. He signed to his
+harp-bearer to bring him his silver harp, for he wished at the last, to
+requite the laudations of the Skalds and the praises of the guests with
+thanks and a song of welcome.... And then began that catastrophe which
+was to overwhelm Halfred and his house, and the men of Tiunderland, and
+all the guests, and many other men and women, altogether strange and
+far away, who had never even seen or heard of Halfred and Harthild, in
+blood and fire.
+
+That is to say, the great door of the hall, exactly opposite to the
+seat of honour opened, and Dame Harthild strode in.
+
+Haughtily erect she walked, her head thrown back. A long black mantle
+was wrapped around her head and neck and breast, and her whole body; it
+floated trailing after her, like the curling wave behind a ship's
+stern.
+
+And Halfred said to one it seemed to him, then, as if the most fearful
+of the Fates was striding through the hall.
+
+Straight up the hall she passed, followed by Sudha and her women, her
+glance fixed upon Halfred.
+
+Slowly, silently, she ascended the six steps of the dais, and paused
+straight before Halfred at the table. Only the heavy candelabrum stood
+between the two.
+
+But all the men in the hall sat speechless, and gazed up at the black
+woman, who looked like a dark thunder cloud.
+
+"Halfred Hamundson," she began--and her voice was loud, yet
+toneless--"Answers I demand to two questions, before these ten hundred
+hearers in thy hall. Lie not to me."
+
+The blood rose to Halfred's brow, and he felt his temple veins throb
+heavily. "If I speak or act," he said to himself, "I know neither what
+I should say nor do. Therefore I will keep silence and do nothing."
+
+But Harthild, with her left hand pressed upon her thigh,
+continued--"Didst thou, in that first night, when I held thy hand firm
+upon my girdle, and asked thee if thou lovedst me, say Yes or No?
+Answer me Sigskald. I and the gods know about that."
+
+"Yes," said Halfred, and knitted his brows.
+
+"And is it true, as Vandrad the Skald has sworn, that here, in this
+hall, at the Yule feast, after many horns of mead, thou didst vow, as a
+wanton wager, that before the midsummer tide, thou would break in the
+breaker of men's wits like a stubborn horse, and that to make good
+these boasting words thou camest to Tiunderland, and remained, as thou
+didst lament, unwounded at sight of me."
+
+"Speak the truth--lie not again--a thousand listeners hear thee--thou
+lordly son of Oski--Is it so?"
+
+Then Halfred raged in his inmost heart, but he constrained himself, and
+replied firmly and distinctly--
+
+"It is as thou hast said."
+
+Then Harthild drew herself up yet higher, and like two serpents
+flashed, glances of fearful hatred from her eyes, as she spoke--
+
+
+   "So be thou accursed, from the crown of thy head to the sole of thy
+ foot, thou who hast deceived and disgraced a hapless woman;
+    Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;
+    Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;
+    Cursed be thy lying Ups--They shall wither and smile no more;
+    Cursed be thy flattering voice--It shall be dumb;
+    Thy house and thy hall shall perish in flames--The Singing Swan
+ shall burn;
+    Thy hand shall be crippled--thy hammer not strike--thy harp shall
+ shatter;
+   Victory shall be denied thee in battle and in song;
+   Nothing shall any more delight thee, in which of yore thou hast
+ rejoiced;
+   The sun of spring--the flowers of the forest--the fire of wine--the
+ blackbird's song--the greeting of the evening star--Sleepless shall
+ roll thy groaning head, and if slumber draws near to thee it shall be
+ with stifling dreams.
+   Yet a twofold curse shall rend ye both, if thou winnest again a
+ woman's love.
+   In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than
+ thy soul.
+   But the son whom I, wretched one, must bear, shall be his mother's
+ avenger upon his father.
+   Liar's son, Scoundrel's son, Harthild's Vengeance shall his name be.
+   And one day, villain, shall he smite thee, as here, to shame thee
+ before all men, my hand now strikes thee in the face."
+
+
+And she lifted high her outspread right hand, and aimed a blow over the
+table at Halfred's head.
+
+Halfred sprang up, and to avert such a disgrace threw up his left arm.
+Then he struck the heavy seven flaming candalabrum; with a crash the
+metal fell with all its flaming arms upon Dame Harthild's breast and
+body, and then upon the ground.
+
+As though struck by lightning stood the woman all in flames--mantle and
+hair blazed up. At once the fire caught the straw thickly strewn upon
+the floor.
+
+"King Hartstein, avenge thy unhappy child," shrieked Harthild, in
+agony. She believed that in rage Halfred had hurled the candalabrum
+upon her.
+
+The king believed the same, and whilst Halfred grasped at the blazing
+woman to rescue her, Kling Hartstein with a cry of "Down thou
+scoundrel," struck him a sharp sword stroke on the forehead, so that he
+fell stunned.
+
+And with a second blow he would have slain him, had not Eigil and
+Hartvik sprung up and quickly borne away their blood brother.
+
+Thus it came to pass that from the very outset Halfred could neither
+avert nor control this catastrophe--He alone could have done it.
+
+Now, however, the burning woman and the flaming straw filled everyone
+with sudden frenzy.
+
+The people from Tiunderland rose up in fury when they saw their king's
+daughter fall flaming on the crackling straw; and Halfred's comrades
+drew their swords when they saw their lord fall bleeding. And flame and
+smoke, shrieks of women, and avenging shouts of men filled the hall.
+
+Then broke loose a fighting and devastation in the hall so gigantic,
+say the heathen people, that the like shall never be seen again until
+the twilight of the gods, when all demons and giants, goblins and
+elves, gnomes, menkind, and pigmies, shall slay each other, and heaven,
+earth and hell shall perish in flames.
+
+Harthild in her burning clothes, was carried out by her shrieking
+women. One only was missing. Sudha sprang through flames and arms to
+where Halfred lay on his blood-brethren's knees.
+
+"Dead," she cried; "Slain by Sudha. Then share we death, if not life."
+And she drew Halfred's dagger from his belt, and plunged it in her own
+breast.
+
+"Slain Halfred! by my babbling tongue. Sudha slain!" cried Vandrad the
+Skald. "I will avenge thee, Halfred."
+
+And he tore a casting spear from the trophies hanging on the
+flame-wreathed wooden pillars, and hurled it whistling at the temples
+of King Hartstein, so that he fell dead.
+
+Wildly shouted the people of Tiunderland, and their near kindred from
+West Gothaland, for vengeance for Harthild and King Hartstein.
+
+And the Jarl Ambiorn, from West Gothaland, seized in both hands a heavy
+brazen double-handled tankard, and dashed it down on Vandrad's
+forehead, so that he fell.
+
+But when the Princes from East Gothaland saw this, that their mortal
+foes aided the men from Upsala, then they fell, Helgi and Helgrimr,
+with furious blows upon both their old enemies, and the guests from
+Upsala.
+
+And now could none any longer give a thought to extinguishing the
+blazing straw upon the floor, or the quickly burning silken and woollen
+hangings on the walls or the wooden pillars, up which tongues of flame
+were creeping.
+
+For blindly now flew spears and axes, and golden and silver drinking
+horns; and many who would have striven for peace, or trodden out the
+flames, had fallen, struck down by both sides.
+
+"Must we alone stand idle among the strange guests at this bloody
+midsummer feast?" said the Danish Jarl Hako, to the Irish King Konal,
+"so that the Skalds shall taunt us as drink valiant but battle shy. We
+have an old strife about stolen horses. Let us fight it out here, thou
+Irish Greenpeak!"
+
+"Thou drunkard of Zealand," was the answer, "I will quench for ever thy
+thirst and thy reviling;" and he struck his broad short Irish knife
+through his teeth into his throat.
+
+Then Sveno, his brother, fell furiously upon the Irish king, and their
+followers, Danes and Irish, fought by themselves their own battle in
+the forefront of the hall, and thus blocked up the door, so that no one
+could escape from the hall into the open air.
+
+And those who had no weapons tore down the trophies from the pillars,
+or hurled about the heavy drinking horns, and even the flaming beams
+and blocks which already fell from the ceiling, and instead of shields
+they defended themselves with the tables.
+
+And all wildly mingled fought the people of Tiunderland and Iceland, of
+Westgothaland and Eastgothaland, of Zealand and Ireland. And hardly did
+anyone know who was friend or foe; and many, many men sank down,
+wounded or burnt.
+
+And at last the flames had burst through the roof, and shot blazing up
+towards heaven.
+
+And as the wind from above blew down upon the swelling hangings on the
+walls, they flashed up suddenly in a brighter blaze.
+
+And now the highest beam fell with a crash; and thereupon rang out a
+sound as though forty harp strings had all at once uttered their dying
+wail. And it was even so, for the beam had severed in twain Halfred's
+silver harp, which lay close by his head.
+
+At this wailing harp cry Halfred opened his eyes, and looked around
+him, and all the truth broke upon him. He sprang up and shouted
+threateningly through slaughter and flames--Hartvik and Eigil protected
+him with shield and sword--
+
+"Hold! Peace, peace in the hall! Magic has frenzied us all! Quench,
+quench the fire which devours us all!"
+
+And so great was his power over friends and foes that for a moment all
+paused.
+
+Then hark! From without there thundered on the hindmost door of the
+hall heavy axe strokes, and the cry--
+
+"Halfred, Halfred, save thy house! Save the Singing Swan!"
+
+With a crash the door fell inwards, and new devastation was seen, which
+kindled afresh the momentarily smothered battle fury in the hall.
+
+Halfred looked through the doorway. The house of his forefathers, and
+the ships in the harbour, and the Singing Swan were all wrapped in
+flames.
+
+The followers of the princes of Westgothaland, who were lodged in the
+pine huts, had first heard the din of battle, and seen the flames in
+the hall. "To the rescue--to the rescue of our lords," they shouted,
+tore down the wooden wall that divided them from the Mead hall, and
+hurried to their aid.
+
+But then there threw themselves upon them, to hinder them, their
+hostile neighbours, the followers of the princes of Eastgothaland, who
+being too weak to hold the open field, retreated partly into Halfred's
+dwelling house, partly to their ships in the Fjord.
+
+With shouts of triumph the victors followed, crowded with the fugitives
+into Halfred's dwelling house, and stormed the ships in the bay; and
+dwelling house and ships were suddenly wrapped in flames, either set on
+fire by the combatants, or ignited by sparks and burning splinters,
+borne by the strong south wind from the roof of the Mead hall.
+
+Halfred threw one glance at his shattered harp, and the burning house
+of his fathers; then he grasped his hammer firmer, and cried--
+
+"Come hither to me all Halfred's comrades. Quit the hall. Save the
+Swan!"
+
+And with a mighty onslaught, swinging his hammer round his head, he
+burst through the ranks of the men who had already renewed the battle
+in the hall.
+
+Hartvik and Eigil followed on his track, and many of his own people,
+and also of the enemy.
+
+But those who did not leave the drinking hall with him were almost all
+at once numbered with the dead. For with a heavy crash, close behind
+Halfred, fell the whole burning roof into the hall.
+
+Halfred glanced back in his rapid course. High upwards shot the blaze,
+mingling with sound of shrieks from hundreds slain. Then all was silent
+in the midsummer feast hall.
+
+Halfred rushed on, followed by friends and foes, past his father's
+house. He saw the flames creeping up the pillars; within rose the din
+of raging conflict; on the threshold lay a slaughtered servant girl.
+
+Soon Halfred and his comrades reached the bay, where the battle surged
+around the high-decked ships. Many were burning. Many dragon's heads
+seemed to vomit fire and smoke.
+
+Around the Singing Swan, however, raged the battle most furiously. In
+dense masses the enemy thronged round her, wading, swimming, in boats
+and on rafts, they crowded on; others hurled spears and arrows from the
+shore at her defenders, and more than one burning arrow had struck and
+set fire to her.
+
+The left wing of the ingeniously carved Swan was on fire; tongues of
+fire were creeping up ropes and sails--just as Halfred arrived they
+caught the mast.
+
+Then grief and fury seized upon him. His temple veins swelled almost to
+the size of a child's finger.
+
+"Quench, quench the flames! All hands on deck! Save the Swan! Cut the
+anchor-cable. Put out to sea. Fight no more. I will fight for you all."
+
+His faithful followers obeyed him. The seamen left off fighting, and
+laboured only to quench the flames, in which also they soon succeeded,
+as no more arrows flew from the land, and the foe were forced to leave
+the ship.
+
+For Halfred raged furiously, as none had ever seen him fight. With a
+loud battle-cry he sprang upon the people of Westgothaland and
+Tiunderland, and struck them down one after another.
+
+Loyally aided him Hartvik and Eigil, his blood brethren, and spared not
+even their own countrymen and kindred; but thought rather on the blood
+oath which bound them more closely to Halfred than to their own
+kinsmen.
+
+And the foe fell back before Halfred and his comrades, from the open
+field into the dwelling house, which was half burned down, and
+barricaded it.
+
+And thus he stormed his own house, in which the people from
+Westgothaland had before overcome the house churls and the East Goths,
+and slain them all.
+
+Yet a whole hour lasted the conflict. There Halfred, on the threshold
+of his house, slew the Danish Jarl Sveno, the last chieftain of the
+enemy who still lived, and pressed into the house with his men.
+
+The people from Westgothaland, Zealand, and Tiunderland, defended
+themselves like bears at bay. But at last they were all slain. And from
+thence Halfred returned to the Mead hall, which was still glowing, and
+searched who there still lived.
+
+But there, also, all were dead.
+
+And they found the bodies of King Hartstein, and Sudha, and of the Dane
+Hako, and the two Irishmen, Konal and Kiartan, of the Eastgothic
+Prince Helge--Helgrimr had fallen on board ship--and of Arngeir and
+Arnbiorn--Arnolfr had been slain in the dwelling house--and they found
+Vandrad the Skald at the point of death.
+
+Then he told Halfred how Sudha had prevailed upon him to speak, and
+begged him to forgive him the death of so many heroes. And Halfred held
+his hand until he was dead.
+
+But Dame Harthild's body they did not find, although many of her women
+lay burnt or slain in the dwelling-house.
+
+But many bodies were so burnt and charred they could not be recognised.
+
+And then they turned their search to the ships.
+
+And all the ships of the foreign guests were burnt, and all those of
+the Icelanders which lay in the bay. For at the last, by reason of
+Halfred's furious attack, no one had thought any more about
+extinguishing them.
+
+And Halfred, with his trumpet, hailed the Singing Swan, which floated
+saved in the moonlight, and went on board with his little troop.
+
+And there lay slain many hundreds of Halfred's Icelanders,
+
+The foreign guests, however, who had come to the midsummer feast, lay
+all all dead, save only Hartvik and Eigil.
+
+And Halfred counted when he called all hands before the mast still
+seventy men alive.
+
+All the rest had fallen in that one midsummer night. And there fell
+after that wild tumult an awful stillness upon land and sea. And sad
+and silent floated the Singing Swan, with scorched sails, upon the
+Fjord.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+And Halfred has sunk into deep deep silence. Since the fight had ended,
+and he had heard Vandrad's dying words, he had not spoken a word.
+
+But when it was full daylight the Singing Swan drew near the land, and
+the men came ashore.
+
+Silently Halfred signed to his sailing comrades to carry out all the
+bodies from the drinking hall, the dwelling-house, and the ships; and
+to collect them altogether on the shore. He had seven funeral piles
+erected, and upon these all the dead were burned with their weapons.
+The ashes, however, of friends and foes Halfred ordered them to mingle.
+
+And these he poured himself into a great stone-lined grave which he had
+had dug on the shore, hard by the water line. And he had earth heaped
+thickly upon them, and a huge black block of stone which had once been
+thrown out of Hekla rolled thereon. And this cost many days work.
+
+But Halfred spoke not. And all through the nights he sat upon the grave
+and looked now upwards to the stars of the summer night, now downwards
+rigidly upon the earth, and the stone grave. And gently gently he
+oftimes shook his head.
+
+But he spoke no word.
+
+And when after seven nights the sun arose, Hartvik and Eigil drew near
+to him, as he sat upon the stone, and then Hartvik spoke--
+
+
+"Halfred, my blood brother, a great calamity has befallen to thee, to
+me, to us. Father and sister and many friends have I lost, and Eigil
+has also lost many who were dear to him. We must bear it, all three.
+Come, Halfred, Sigskald, arouse thyself! This silence and brooding is
+evil. Dwelling-house and Mead hall the fire has burnt--the axe will
+build them up. Harps, there are many still upon the earth, and the
+Singing Swan spreads out her hardly singed pinions. Come, Halfred,
+drink! Here I have brought thee from the Greek spoils of the Singing
+Swan a cup of Chios wine, which thou ever lovedst. Drink, speak, and
+live!"
+
+
+Halfred stood up with a sigh, took the cup from Hartvik's hand, and
+poured the wine slowly upon the grave; the earth drank it greedily in.
+
+
+"Come hither again about midnight. Then will I give ye an answer. I
+cannot even yet think clearly. Once more will I ask the gods who dwell
+in the stars if they even yet deny me an answer."
+
+
+And he sat down again upon the stone, and covered his face with his
+hands.
+
+And when about midnight the two came, Halfred pointed towards the
+heavens--
+
+
+   "There are so many thousand thousand stars, but they are all dumb to
+ me.
+    Unceasingly, for seven days and nights, have I asked myself, and
+ asked the stars, wherefore have the Gods allowed this awful thing to
+ happen?
+    Is it a crime that I vowed a vow, such as many which are vowed in
+ the north?
+    Hundreds of women had heard it without resentment.
+    Is it my crime that Dame Harthild was differently minded?
+    And it was no lie that I bore love to her, on that night.
+    Love's fulness truly it was not--as Sudha named it.
+    That may be. Never knew I love's fulness.
+    And be it so. If the Gods hate me for an evil deed, wherefore do
+ they not punish me alone?
+    Wherefore let others--so many others--suffer and atone for
+ _my_ sin?
+    Wherefore should King Hartstein perish, and many other princes,
+ and thousands of men from all coasts and islands?
+    Wherefore should Dame Harthild perish, whom they would have
+ avenged, and our unborn son?
+    How have all these sinned? Answer me, ye two, if ye know more than
+ do I and the stars?"
+
+
+But his blood brethren were silent, and Halfred continued--
+
+
+   "Yet there must be Gods!
+    Who has else bound the giants, calmed the sea, levelled the earth,
+ arched the heavens, and strewn the stars? Who else guides the battle?
+ and how, after death, come mighty heroes to Valhalla, and the evil to
+ the dark serpent hell?
+    For that awful fearful thought which already from afar has come
+ darkly into my mind, that perhaps no Gods live! I will think it no
+ more.
+   There must be Gods. I cannot cannot think otherwise, and my
+ throbbing brain is driven to frenzy.
+    And if there are Gods, they must be also good, and wise, and
+ mighty, and just.
+    Else it would be indeed yet more frightful to think that beings,
+ mightier and wiser than mankind, delighted in the misery of men,
+ like an evil urchin who for sport impales a captured beetle.
+    This, therefore, one dare not think,--neither, indeed,--that
+ there are no Gods, or that there are evil Gods.
+    And therefore will I in devout submission endure this awful calamity,
+ waiting till, in the course of years, I guess this riddle also. So hard
+ an one was never yet set before me.
+    But ye, ye faithful ones, who stood by me to the death, and spared
+ not your own kindred, and have lost your nearest through me; ye will I
+ never forsake, all my life long; and great gratitude will I bear ye,
+ and my dearest shall ye be for evermore. For ye alone will I live."
+
+
+Then spake Hartvik--
+
+
+"Not thus must thou speak, Halfred. The harp thou shalt again strike
+victoriously, the hammer shalt thou again joyously wield under the blue
+heavens of Greece. The blood of the vine shalt thou quaff, and a woman
+more enchanting than----"
+
+Then Halfred sprang up from the black stone--
+
+
+  "Silence, Hartvik: Thou blasphemest.
+   Who is stricken so heavily as I, by the hatred of the Gods, who
+ live and are just, he stands as a lightning-blasted tree by the way.
+ Birds sing not upon it, the dew moistens it not, the sun kisses it
+ not.
+   How should I sing and laugh, drink and kiss, through whom hath
+ fallen upon so many thousand men and women utter destruction, or the
+ sorrow of death for evermore?
+   No, otherwise have I vowed to myself.
+   Long did I doubt if I still could live, after such a calamity as
+ the Gods have laid upon this head, and I could not, did I not believe
+ in good Gods, and tarry for the solving of this riddle.
+   But joy and happiness have no more part in Halfred Hamundson. I
+ renounce them for ever."
+
+
+And he kneeled down, and took from his breast pouch a leathern bottle,
+which was filled with white ashes. And slowly he strewed them all over
+his long flowing black locks, and his face, and breast, and body.
+
+
+  "Hear me, ye good all ruling Gods, and ye glittering all seeing
+ stars of heaven; and of men-kind upon earth, Hartvik and Eigil, my
+ blood brethren!
+   Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I have
+ drawn down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and
+ strangers, I renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and
+ the love of women.
+   To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here
+ cover myself upon their grave mound, do I belong; and among the
+ living, to my faithful blood brethren.
+   And if I break this solemnly sworn vow, then be Dame Harthild's
+ curse wholly fulfilled."
+
+
+And the stars and his friends in silence heard his vow.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+And Halfred kept his word.
+
+Year after year passed away--he told me he no longer knew how often.
+Meanwhile midsummer returned--and Halfred lived a life which was as a
+living death.
+
+Hartvik and Eigil commanded the Singing Swan, and ruled their sailing
+comrades. They chose the design, the port, and the course of their
+voyages. Halfred without word, wish, or choice, let everything be.
+
+Only, when the south wind grew too strong for Hartvik's hand, Halfred
+strode silently to the helm, and steered until the sea was calm again.
+
+Also, when Vikings attacked the ship, Halfred had forbidden that the
+Singing Swan, either by sea or land, should do harm to any--and the
+danger became overwhelming, Halfred silently--he raised the battle cry
+no more--grasped his hammer, and dashed among the enemy until they gave
+way.
+
+But he wielded his hammer only with his left hand--his shield he had
+laid aside--and neither with helmet nor mail did he protect his head
+and breast.
+
+And throughout the whole year he wore the garment which on that
+midsummer night smoke, flame and blood had darkly dyed.
+
+When the Singing Swan drew near the land--the black flame marks on the
+wings none were allowed to efface--and Hartvik and Eigil and the
+sailors went to the halls of kings, Halfred stayed lying upon deck, and
+kept guard over the ship.
+
+And he drank only water out of a cup of the bitter juniperwood.
+
+Eigil brought once, from a king's halls where the Sigskald of yore had
+often been a guest, a splendid golden harp, which the queen, in
+greeting to her old friend, had sent as a present.
+
+But as the ship turned out of the bay the harp, with a light rush,
+glided into the sea.
+
+And once Halfred lay at midsummer in Iceland, on the shore by the black
+stone--for every midsummer night he spent alone there, his friends must
+remain on the ship--and looked very very sad. For his face had grown
+very pale.
+
+Then there came a woman, and a wonderfully beautiful maiden, who was
+her daughter, and stood before him; and he turned away his face, but
+the mother spoke--
+
+
+"I know thee, even yet, Halfred Sigskald. I can never forget thy face,
+although the smile of Oski no longer plays thereon, and though the
+furrows on thy brow are deeply scored as with a plough. This maiden
+dids't thou, fifteen years ago, lay in my arms a sleeping child. See
+how beautiful she has become, as no other in all Iceland. And this
+wreath of summer flowers has she twined for thee. Set it upon thy pale
+brow, and thou shalt be healed, for gratitude has woven it."
+
+
+Then Halfred sprang up, took the wreath from the beautiful blushing
+maiden's hand, lifted with mighty force the huge block upwards, threw
+the wreath under it, and let the black stone fall heavily in its place
+again.
+
+The mother and maiden, weeping, departed.
+
+And during these years Halfred spoke hardly to any, save Hartvik and
+Eigil, and to them only when he must.
+
+And what he said was weak and mournful.
+
+And his voice had become very low.
+
+And he was very kind to everyone, above all to those below him.
+
+And often in the night the sailors heard him sigh, and turn himself
+upon the straw bed upon the deck, where always, even in the cold
+winter, he lay under the stars.
+
+And they heard him often speak when there was no one at hand with whom
+he could talk.
+
+And at table he rested his head upon his left hand, and kept his eyes
+cast downwards, or looked into the far far distance.
+
+And he almost never complained, only he often shook his head gently,
+and pressed very very often his left hand upon his breast, and said
+many times--
+
+"The fresh air of heaven shuns me. I cannot breathe. If I will breathe
+I must sigh. My heart is almost crushed."
+
+And Hartvik and Eigil said one to the other--"He is ill."
+
+And once, when they sailed to Greece, Hartvik secretly called a
+physician--they are very skilful there--and the physician watched
+Halfred many days and nights, and said--
+
+"It is a heavy malady under which this poor man suffers.
+
+"And many have already quietly died of it, or sunk into madness.
+
+"We call it 'Melancholy.'"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+And the Singing Swan sailed again into the western seas, in the late
+spring and early summer, at the time which the Latins call "Mensus
+Madius."
+
+And because of the long voyage the provisions were exhausted, and the
+ship also needed rest and repairing.
+
+And Halfred's blood brethren said to him, when they came into the
+waters of the island of Hibernia--
+
+"Both men and stores need caring for: we will land at King Thorul's sea
+castle, and provide all that we need on board. Far famed is King
+Thorul's hall; there they have great skill on the harp. Come with us to
+the city; rejoice thy heart in human fellowship, for there thou cans't
+not, as heretofore, lie upon the ship. Even to the Singing Swan will
+many people come, workmen and traders, and thou wouldst not be alone
+under thy stars. Shall we not steer for the green island?"
+
+And Halfred nodded, and Hartvik joyfully turned the helm sharp to the
+west.
+
+When, however, they saw the towers of Thorul's hall rise from the waves
+in the morning light, Halfred, with his own hand, lowered the smaller
+boat, which lay fastened on the deck near the helm, and said--
+
+"When ye have rejoiced yourselves at King Thorurs court, and have
+provided for the ship, seek me, after twenty nights, on yonder small
+rocky island."
+
+And he took arrow, and bow, and fishing hook, sprang into the boat, and
+rowed to the island.
+
+But, the Singing Swan sailed further to the west.
+
+And Halfred landed upon the small rocky island; he found a fitting bay,
+and drew his boat high up upon the white sand of the shore.
+
+And then there came floating to him on the air something which was
+strange and yet well known to him. Only under the golden stars of
+Greece and Rome had he ever heretofore enjoyed the intoxication of such
+fragrance.
+
+There is, that is to say, a flower of the delicate hue of a maiden's
+cheek, "Rosa" the Latins call it, and its fragrance is as the kiss of
+pure maiden lips.
+
+And this flower had the Roman heroes, so long as they were powerful in
+these western lands, carefully tended in their houses and gardens. Long
+since, however, had the Roman heroes vanished, their stately dwellings
+were abandoned and ruined, their gardens grown wild.
+
+And wild also had grown the maiden tinted flower which they call Rosa,
+and had spread all over the island, and flourished luxuriantly
+everywhere, and breathed forth a strong intoxicating perfume.
+
+On these small islands which lie round about the great western island
+of Hibernia, the air is always mild; the snow seldom there remains
+lying on the land, and only slightly, and for a short time are the
+streams frozen.
+
+And the singing birds which elsewhere retreat before the frost, rest
+for the winter in these retreats, where meadows, shrubs, and trees,
+remain green even in the severest seasons. For it rains often there,
+and moist is the breath of the billows rolling around.
+
+And the heathen people, therefore, call these islands "Baldur's
+Islands," for Baldur they name the God of the spring dawning.
+
+And as Halfred climbed up the hill from the shore, all the underwood
+and sweet-springing thorns were in full bloom; white thorn and red
+thorn and black thorn and the wild roses.
+
+And also the many splendid fruit trees which the Roman heroes had
+brought with them from the south and the east, were in full bloom.
+
+And from every shrub and tree resounded the sweet tones of the grey
+brown singing bird, which the Latins call "Luscinia," the Greeks
+"Philomela," but we, the "Nightingale."
+
+And Halfred strode upwards and inland, by the side of a clear rapid
+stream, which flowed over white pebbles, through light green copsewood.
+On the height he came to a transparent copse of alders, young beeches,
+and slender white birches. There lovely broad-winged butterflies
+flitted over the beautiful flowers in the sunny glades. Deep in the
+thicket sang the thrush. The tops and pliant boughs of the birches
+nodded and waved.
+
+And then there came to him, borne on the morning wind, yet other sounds
+than the song of the nightingale, far clearer and softer, as from the
+lightly-touched strings of a harp; but which sounded far more beautiful
+than any harp playing, either of his own or any other Skald, which he
+had ever heard.
+
+And from high above, as if from heaven, the tones appeared to come.
+Halfred followed the sounds, which powerfully moved and allured him.
+
+No sound since the last dying shriek of his harp had reached his soul
+through his ears. These harp tones aroused his soul. He believed that
+elves or Bragi, the song God, were harping in the air.
+
+He wished not to scare the singer, but to listen. Softly he passed on,
+choosing his steps; the wood-grass betrayed him not, for it was soft,
+long, and thick.
+
+He had now come quite near to the sound, yet still he saw not the
+singer. Cautiously he parted the thick white thorn bushes, and
+perceived then a small green mound, upon which stood in a circle six
+beeches. But the seventh, the tallest, stood in the centre, and towered
+above them all; and around its trunk wound an ornamental staircase made
+of white wood; and made of the same white wood there was a slight
+platform fitted in where the broad branches of the beech spread
+themselves out. The railing of both staircase and platform was
+ingeniously carved.
+
+From this airy bower floated down the wonderful tones.
+
+Halfred drew nearer, and spied through the branches and the crevices of
+the platform. His heart throbbed high with amazement, awe, and
+yearning.
+
+There he saw the player.
+
+On the railing leaned a boy who was wonderfully beautiful, so
+beautiful, Halfred said to me, that never had he seen such beauty upon
+earth--so beautiful as the elves must be, in which the heathen people
+believe.
+
+He was altogether white--his slender face was white as the stone which
+the Greeks call "Alabaster;" the folded garment which reached from his
+neck to his knees was white, and white were the leathern shoes upon his
+feet.
+
+But the eyes and hair of the boy were like gold.
+
+And Halfred said to me that the eyes were the golden brown of the
+eagle's eyes. In the shining hair, however, which a net of the same
+colour confined, instead of a hat, played hither and thither, bright
+sun-tinted gleams, as though a sunbeam had lost itself therein, and now
+vainly sought to find an outlet.
+
+And the boy played upon a small three-sided stringed instrument, such
+as only the Skalds of Hibernia carry, and played a wholly unknown
+melody.
+
+And he played and sang so beautifully, that Halfred had never yet heard
+such playing and singing; mournful and yet blissful at the same time,
+was the melody, like the pain of yearning, which yet for no pleasure of
+the earth would the heart resign.
+
+And Halfred told me that for the first time since that midsummer night
+a warm breath passed again over his soul.
+
+And the beautiful boy in the airy bower enchained his eyes, and the
+mournful yearning song entranced his soul.
+
+And for the first time, for many, many years, his breast could heave
+with a full drawn breath.
+
+And tears filled his eyes, and restored and healed him, and made him
+young once more, like cool dew upon the heath after a burning sun.
+
+And at the close of every two lines the words of the song rang
+harmoniously together, like--and yet again not altogether entirely
+like--as though two voices sought each other in sound and echo.
+
+Or as when man and woman, one and yet two, are folded together in a
+kiss.
+
+The boy sang in the soft lisping Irish language, which Halfred well
+knew. But that closing concord had he never heard, and it resounded far
+more pleasingly upon the ear than did the dead consonant staves of the
+Skalds.
+
+And this was the boy's song,--
+
+
+     "On light slender branches blowing
+      White rose yearns through May's young bloom--
+      Sun God, 'tis for thee I'm glowing,
+      When wilt thou, thy bright face showing,
+      Quaff full deep my fresh perfume?
+      When wilt thou, for ardour sighing,
+      Greet my flowers in trembling bliss?
+      Come, and must I rue thee dying,
+      Leave within my chalice lying,
+      Fiery sweet, thy fervid kiss."
+
+Here closed the boy's song and playing with a clear resounding chord on
+the strings.
+
+And as soon as he ceased, and had hung his harp on the boughs, lo!
+there came flying from the nearest shrub two snow-white doves, which
+lighted one on the right, the other on the left shoulder of the boy,
+who smiling stroked their heads, and slowly, thoughtfully, with
+stately, and yet almost timed step, came down the white wooden stairs,
+and stood upon the beautiful flowery turf of the greenwood glade.
+
+Halfred dreaded that he might terrify the gentle harper if he stepped
+suddenly out of the thicket before him.
+
+Therefore he called to him first, from a distance, in a soft voice,
+slowly drawing nearer.
+
+"Hail, gentle boy! If thou art mortal, may the Gods be gracious to
+thee. If thou art thyself a God, or as I surmise one of the light
+elves, then be not ungracious to me, a mortal man."
+
+Then the boy turned slowly towards him, without seeming to be
+terrified, or even surprised, and as Halfred now drew nearer, he said
+in a melodious vibrating voice--
+
+"Welcome, Halfred. Art thou come at last? I have tarried long for
+thee."
+
+And he offered him both hands; the glance of the golden eyes sinking
+deep into Halfred's soul.
+
+Halfred, however, dared not to touch those hands. He felt, from the
+very depths of his being, a quickening warmth uprise, and send rippling
+through body and soul a quiver of delight--of joy in surpassing
+beauty--but also of holy awe, as in the presence of gods or spirits;
+for he had no longer any doubt that it was no earthly being who stood
+before him.
+
+Voice and breath almost failed him as he asked--
+
+"Who hath proclaimed to thee Halfred's coming, and name!"
+
+"The moonlight."
+
+"Then art thou indeed, as I had already perceived, the prince of the
+light elves, to whom moon and stars speak words. Be gracious to me, O
+loveliest of the Gods."
+
+Then the boy smiled. "I am a child of earth, like thyself, Halfred.
+Draw nearer. Take my hands."
+
+"But who art thou, if thou art mortal!" asked Halfred, still
+hesitating.
+
+"Thoril, King Thorul's orphan grandchild."
+
+"And wherefore dwellest thou here alone, on this small island, as
+though hidden, and not in King Thorul's hall?"
+
+"He dreamed thrice that danger threatened me, in the month when the
+wild roses blow; a strange ship which should come into his harbour
+would carry me away, never to be seen again.
+
+"To render me quite safe against this danger he sent me here to this
+small outlying island, at which, because of its circling cliffs, no
+ship can land. Only Moëngal, his ancient armour-bearer, and his wife,
+my foster-mother, are with me; yonder, in that small wooden house,
+behind the beech mound, we live. But so long as the dear lord shines,
+and the gay butterflies flit over the flowers, I tarry here in hidden
+airy bower."
+
+"But, thou wonderful boy, if thou art really a child of earth, how
+could the moon reveal to thee my coming and my name?"
+
+"I sleep not in the moonlight, because it entices me out and upwards.
+It lifts me by force from my couch, and upwards to itself. With closed
+eyes, they say, I wander then away on the narrowest ridges of the roof;
+and far away, through forest and mountain, I see what shall happen in
+the future, and the distance.
+
+"Carefully they guarded me, therefore, in the king's hall. But here, the
+clear moon looks freely through the rifts in our cottage roof.
+
+"And I saw, seven nights ago, a ship, with a swan on the prow, that drew
+nearer and nearer. On the deck lay sleepless a dark-bearded man, with a
+noble countenance. 'Halfred,' his two friends called him.
+
+"And ever nearer floated the sailing Swan. But when, one cloudy night,
+the moon shone not upon my pillow, and my eyes could not see the ship,
+and the man, then yearning seized upon me for that noble countenance.
+And I laid my pillow and my head, since then, ever carefully under the
+full flood of the moonlight. And night after night I gazed again on
+that lofty forehead and these palid temples.
+
+"But still more beautiful and lordly art thou, than thy dream picture;
+and never have I seen a man to equal thee."
+
+"But thou," cried Halfred, seizing both the singer's hands, "art like
+Baldur in spring beauty, gentle boy.
+
+"Never have I seen such perfect charm in youth or in maiden. Like
+sunshine upon chilled limbs, like Chios wine through parched throat,
+flows thy beauty through my eyes deep into my soul. Thou art as the
+blackbird's song and the wood flowers: as the evening star in golden
+clouds; thou art as the most wonderful song which ever resounded from
+the lips of a Skald; thyself, as thou livest and movest, thou art pure
+poetry.
+
+"O Thoril, golden boy, how gentle thou art! how thou hast quickened my
+grief-worn heart. O Thoril, leave me never again!
+
+"Take up once more thy magic harp; uplift once more that sweet song,
+which has awakened my soul from the sleep of death.
+
+"O come, let me lay my heavy head upon thy knee, and gaze in thy sunny
+wondrous face, while thou tunest thy harp, and playest and singest."
+
+And thus they both did.
+
+And trustfully flew one of the doves from Thoril's hand to Halfred's
+broad shoulder, and cooed lovingly to the other.
+
+And when the song was ended, Halfred seized again the two hands of the
+boy, and drew them slowly slowly over his forehead, and his moist eyes.
+
+And it all was as it stands written in the sacred books of the Jews, of
+the King full of sadness and heaviness, who could only be healed by the
+harp-playing of the son of Jesse.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+And this lasted many days; and upon Halfred's forehead the lines and
+furrows disappeared, one after another. And once more he could draw a
+deep full breath without sighing.
+
+And he carried his head again proudly erect, when he did not purposely
+bend down to look into the golden eyes of the boy, which ever again and
+again he did.
+
+And so much did Halfred dread to lose Thoril again, that he never left
+his side the live-long day. And because Thoril's couch and sleeping
+chamber were, as he said, so small that Halfred could not share them,
+he lay before the door upon the threshold.
+
+Nevertheless he still could not sleep; but now, because with ardent
+yearning he listened to the breathing of the sleeper. And with the
+earliest dawn of morning he would rouse Thoril from sleep and his
+sleeping chamber.
+
+And it seemed as if the old gift of Oski was given back to Halfred,
+the winning of all hearts. For the two guardians of the boy, who
+full of mistrust had seen the strange man approach their cottage,
+holding Thoril's hand--the ancient Moëngal had rushed at him with a
+spear--were at once gentle and won, when he begged, with the old smile
+of Oski--"Let me be healed at Thoril's golden eyes."
+
+But on the thirtieth day--the time when the Singing Swan should come
+for him was long passed, but Halfred thought not of that--the two went
+out with hooks and lines to catch fish. For Moëngal's provisions were
+exhausted.
+
+In the midst of the island lay a dark lake, surrounded by steep high
+cliffs. But from the lake a streamlet flowed to the open sea. In a
+small boat they could row upon this lake, and down the streamlet to the
+sea. And there were many splendid fish called silver salmon in the
+lake, and in the stream, and even down in the salt sea.
+
+And Halfred and Thoril rowed over the lake the whole morning, and laid
+ground hooks and nets.
+
+And when, towards mid-day, the heat burned more and more fiercely down
+upon them, Halfred said--
+
+"Come away from this shadeless depth. There above, on the cliff, I see
+falling the glittering spray of a silver rill--amidst alders, amidst
+wild roses it springs. There above, it is cool and shady. Easily shall
+we find a grotto in the rock. I long for that fresh spring water. And
+there above, to the left, nod dark sweet berries--they quench the
+thirst, and young boys love them. Let us climb up. I will gladly aid
+thee."
+
+And slowly they climbed the steep face of the cliff. Thoril now aided,
+now followed by Halfred.
+
+Then there floated to them, half-way up to the fountain, a strong
+perfume from a hollow linden tree, like wine, but it was wild honey
+which the wood-bees had gathered there.
+
+And Thoril dipped his forefinger deep in the bright thick mixture, and
+laid it upon Halfred's lips, and smiled at him, and said--
+
+"Take it. It is very sweet."
+
+And most enchanting he looked.
+
+Then Halfred exclaimed--
+
+"Such honey, so say the people, the Gods have laid upon my lips. Try if
+it is true."
+
+And he suddenly clapped Thoril's head, which was bent down towards him,
+with both hands, and kissed him on his full lips.
+
+Then both started asunder. A burning glow shot through Halfred's frame.
+But Thoril turned away his face, quivering slightly, and rapidly
+climbed up the cliff.
+
+Halfred paused, and drew a deep breath--
+
+Then he followed.
+
+"See, Thoril," cried Halfred halting, "this cavern, hollowed by the
+elves in the rock. The thick thorn bushes, with the perfumed red
+flowers, almost hide the entrance; and see there, how the brown
+nightingale on her nest guards the small doorway, and how the honey
+bees swarm around. Here will we stop and rest as we descend, when we
+have drunk above."
+
+But Thoril made no answer, and climbed more quickly upwards.
+
+They had still some fifty paces to climb upwards to the edge of the
+cliff whence the spring water fell in silver spray. Halfred was
+surprised that henceforward the boy went steadily on, turning his back
+to him, and if he sought to aid him in climbing, held on his course
+without looking round.
+
+Fiercely beat the noontide down upon the cliff; all around was deep
+silence; only blue flies darted buzzing through the sunshine, and from
+high in the heavens sounded often the shrill cries of soaring falcons,
+which with outspread pinions circled over their heads.
+
+They had now mounted so high that far away over the small island they
+could see, on three sides, beneath and around them, the blue sea
+appear.
+
+And the sea encircled the blooming island with its dark steel-blue arm,
+like a mail-clad hero a blooming women.
+
+But from the far west drew near a white sail.
+
+At last they had reached the height. Thoril stood above, hard by the
+waterfall, where scarcely could a pair of human feet find standing room
+upon the wet slippery crumbling stone.
+
+Beneath him, some five feet lower, Halfred halted, and looked towards
+him. "Give me to drink, I am parched with thirst," he cried to him.
+
+And Thoril drew from his fishing pouch a curved, silvery shining,
+mother of pearl shell. He raised himself on tiptoe, filled the shell to
+the brim, and turned to reach it down to Halfred. Then his foot slipped
+on the polished stone, vainly he tried to save himself, spreading out
+his arms on the bare rock wall. Halfred saw him falling downwards,
+straight upon himself, and opened wide his strong arms to receive the
+light burden. But lo!--a miracle. In the rapid fall the buckle broke
+which fastened over the breast Thoril's white linen garment; wide
+outspreading, down over the shoulders, fell the garment; at the same
+moment fell the net which confined the golden hair--a rich flood of
+waving tresses spread themselves over the shining neck and swelling
+breast.
+
+"A woman art thou? a maiden?" shouted Halfred exultingly. "Thanks to
+ye, O stars. Yes; this is Love's fullness."
+
+And the beautiful maiden hid her glowing cheeks in Halfred's neck.
+
+With a few strides he bore his light burden down to the grotto they had
+passed in climbing, and bending the branches of the rose bushes aside
+placed her safely within its shelter. The nightingale, which there sat
+singing on her nest, flew only to a short distance; and then returned
+and sang and warbled unceasingly. And the bees flew humming among the
+wild roses.
+
+And when the crimson glow of the evening sun shone over the island
+Halfred and Thoril descended the cliff. And now the girl's face was
+infinitely more beautiful than of yore. She wore her hair no longer in
+the net, but waving freely, so that like a mantle spun of threads of
+sunny gold it covered her from her throat to her knees. And instead of
+the lost buckle a small spray of the thorn bush, with a full blown
+rose, fastened her garment over the breast.
+
+Thus, hand in hand, they descended to the lake, and then Thora took
+from the boat her three-sided harp, and thus they wandered down by the
+streamlet which flowed from the lake to the sea, and on to the bay,
+towards the west.
+
+And the ship, which from the west had held her course towards the
+island, was the Singing Swan.
+
+There, at a short distance, she now lay at anchor in the bay; her sails
+shining brightly in the evening light. And the ship's boat glided over
+the water towards the shore, to bring Halfred and the smaller boat,
+rowed by Hartvik and Eigil.
+
+And the blood brethren sprang on shore, and marvelled greatly, when
+they saw Halfred stand there, hand in hand with a wonderfully beautiful
+woman. Silently their glances questioned him.
+
+But Halfred spoke, twining his arms round the slender girl--
+
+"This is Thora the golden-eyed. King Thorul's daughter.
+
+"She was hidden from me here, and clad in boy's clothing that I might
+not find her.
+
+"Nevertheless I have found her, according to the course of the stars and
+the will of the Gods--Love her as myself--for she is my wife."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+And now it was very wonderful to see what a wholly different man
+Halfred had became since he had won Thora.
+
+He threw off his tattered clothing, and clad himself in the most costly
+royal raiment of scarlet and rich gold, which lay stored away as a
+special treasure among the spoils of the Singing Swan.
+
+He quaffed the sparkling Chios wine from a silver cup, and eagerly
+pledged Thora in Freya's love.
+
+He played often upon her harp, and sang new songs far more beautiful
+and ardent, and moving according to a melody which he invented, and
+called "Thora's melody."
+
+And his youth seemed to be given back to him, for the deep furrows
+vanished from his forehead, his eyes, which had always been cast down,
+as though he revolved the past, or his own thoughts, now looked
+brightly upwards again, and around his lips again played joyously the
+smile of Oski.
+
+And he stirred not night or day from his young wife's side; and was
+never weary of stroking her long golden hair, or looking deep into her
+golden joyfully glistening eyes.
+
+But in the night he often held her high aloft in his arms, and silently
+showed her to the silent stars.
+
+And he had himself seized the helm, to turn the Singing Swan towards
+the south, for he said, "Thora shall see the islands of the blest, in
+the blue Grecian waters, where marble statues, white and slender as
+herself, look out from among evergreen laurels."
+
+And the flame marks on the Swan's wings were effaced, and mast and
+spars must always be wreathed with flowers, for Thora loved flowers.
+
+But the young wife had eyes for Halfred alone. She spoke but few words;
+but with sweet smiles she often whispered--
+
+"Yes, verily, thou art the Son of Heaven. Mortal men, such as I have
+often seen in my father's hall, could never be at once so strong and so
+gentle. Thou art like the sea a furious irresistible God, and withal a
+lovely dreaming child."
+
+And when she glided across the ship, all in snow white garments, and
+with her golden flowing hair, the men on the rowing benches sat with
+oars suspended, and Hartvik, at the helm, forgot to guide the ship's
+course, and followed her steps with wondering eyes.
+
+And when they drew near to land, and the people saw her hovering on the
+wings of the Singing Swan--where she loved to stand--they brought
+offerings of flowers, for they believed that Frigg, or Freya, had
+sailed in to visit them.
+
+And Halfred told me that she grew more beautiful from day to day.
+
+And in this wise passed four times seven nights.
+
+And Halfred was so infatuated and absorbed in Thora, that he did not in
+the least observe what was brewing among the sailors, or how his blood
+brethren, who held themselves aloof from him, whispered together.
+
+He heard once, as he remembered afterwards that Hartvik whispered to
+Eigil, "No I tell thee. He will never do it himself, or by free will.
+Therefore the physician must by force burn out the wound from the
+sufferer."
+
+He neither noticed nor understood these words. But soon afterwards he
+understood them.
+
+One clear moonlight night Halfred and Thora had already sought their
+couch in their chamber between the decks, from whence a small gangway
+and flight of steps led upwards, and Thora had fallen asleep. Ere
+Halfred fell asleep however, it seemed to him as though he detected
+that the Singing Swan was, very slowly certainly, but perceptibly
+turning. She groaned, as though resisting the pressure of the helm; and
+he thought that he heard, through the open gangway, the sound of many
+steps upon the deck, and of whispering voices, and now and again of
+weapons clashing.
+
+Instinctively he glanced towards the head of the couch; where his
+hammer hung, guarding his bride's pillow. The loop was empty. The
+hammer was missing.
+
+Quickly, but lightly, so as not to wake the sleeper, he sprang up the
+narrow stairs. He was just in time. Hartvik and Eigil were in the act
+to close the small trap door, which fastened over the gangway with a
+bolt, and thus confine the pair between decks. There, now, stood
+Halfred, his right foot on the deck, his left on the highest step.
+Hartvik and Eigil started up, and drew back a pace. Hartvik was leaning
+upon Halfred's hammer. The ship's crew stood armed in a half circle
+behind him. The helm also was surrounded by armed men, and had been
+turned. The ship no longer sailed towards the south-east, but held west
+north-west, and the sails were half-reefed.
+
+"What do ye here my blood brethren?" said Halfred, softly--for he
+thought of Thora--and was more amazed than angry. "Are ye mad, or have
+ye grown faithless."
+
+For a while all were silent, startled at Halfred's sudden appearance,
+whom they had believed to be sleeping soundly by Thora's side. But
+Hartvik recovered and spoke--
+
+"It is not we who are mad, or have grown faithless, but thou, our
+unhappy brother, under magic spell. We would have accomplished what
+must be done without it being possible for thee to hinder it. Thou
+shouldst only have trodden the deck again, when, against thine own
+will, thou wert restored to health.
+
+"Now, however, since thou hast too soon learnt this, hear what we, thy
+blood brethren and the most of those on board, assembled in ship's
+council, last night resolved--resolved for thy weal, although many
+opposed it, and would first have spoken with thee. Submit thyself
+peaceably, for it is unalterable as the course of the stars, and
+although thou art very strong, Halfred Hamundson, bethink thee, thou
+art weaponless, and we are seventy."
+
+Halfred was silent. Fearfully swelled his temple veins; but he thought
+of Thora. "She sleeps," he whispered. "Say softly what ye have to say.
+I listen."
+
+"Halfred, our dear blood brother," continued Hartvik softly. "Thou
+liest spell bound in the toils of a woman who--I will verily not revile
+her, for I love her more ardently than my own heart's blood--whatever
+she may be, a mortal woman undoubtedly is not.
+
+"Here works one of the strongest spells which ever witchcraft wove, and
+ever befooled the senses of men.
+
+"I blame her not as do many of our comrades.
+
+"She can do no otherwise. This is her very nature.
+
+"She is in truth an Elfin woman, or what the Irish call their white half
+Goddesses.
+
+"In the old Sagas it is told that there are such magic women, who,
+whether they will or not, wherever they come, bewitch the eyes and
+hearts of all men. In Herjadal lived such an one, seventy years ago,
+and there was no peace in the land until they had hung a mill stone
+about her neck, and sunk her where the Fjord is deepest.
+
+"That this woman is no mortal woman can any one see who only looks once
+in her white face, through which all the veins shine blue, and in the
+selfish glittering golden eyes. This alone were enough, without that
+which many among us have seen; how, lately, when the moon was full, she
+rose unperceived from thy side, and floated up upon deck and with
+closed eyes danced up and down upon the slightest wing feathers of the
+Singing Swan, like an elf in the moon rays. And when the moon went
+behind a cloud she glided just as lightly down to thee.
+
+"But this is the smallest part of her magic.
+
+"Not thee alone has her beauty ensnared. She hath so crazed all the
+ship's crew that they forget work and duty to gaze after her as she
+floats along.
+
+"Yes, even among us, blood friends, hath she kindled frightful sinister
+thoughts against thee, and against each other. I, who care not for
+women, and Eigil, who never thought of any woman save my burnt sister,
+we have lately by night confessed to each other that this silent white
+elf woman hath so fearfully crazed our senses, that each of us has
+already wished thy death, yes, would even have contrived it, in order
+to win this golden haired enchantress.
+
+"And when we confessed these same thoughts to each other, we were filled
+with shame.
+
+"Yet nevertheless each of us has plotted the death of the other.
+
+"There must be an end of this.
+
+"This slender sorceress shall not make men murderers in their thoughts,
+who have stood together through fire and blood.
+
+"We will not throw her overboard, as many of the crew in superstitious
+terror advise. Where would be the use? She would swim like a sea bird
+on the tops of the waves. But we will bear her back to the lonely
+island, where no eye of man can see her, and where no doubt wise gods
+had banished her. We would all possess her, and none shall have what
+each covets."
+
+Frightfully throbbed the veins in Halfred's temples, in his rage. "The
+first," he said, quite softly, through his gnashing teeth, "the first
+who lifts a hand, ay even a look towards her, I will tear his false
+heart from his living body."
+
+And so frightfully threatening was his face to behold that Hartvik and
+all the armed men drew back a couple of paces.
+
+But Eigil stepped forward again, and spoke in a louder voice than
+Hartvik had used.
+
+"Halfred, give way. We have sworn it. We will compel thee."
+
+"Ye compel me!" cried Halfred, also now in a louder voice. "Murder and
+revolt on board the Singing Swan! What saith the Viking code? Like a
+dog shall he hang by the neck at the mast head who secretly stirs up
+disobedience to the ship's lord."
+
+"To the ship's lord, yes, when madness crazes him not," shouted Eigil
+again.
+
+"Darest thou to speak of rights, Halfred Hamundson?
+
+"Only because madness and magic excuse thee, have we not long since
+asserted our rights against thee: thou, who every word and bond of
+right hast broken. We demand our rights. But thou hast no right to that
+woman.
+
+"Hast thou forgotten, Perjurer, that bloodstained midsummer night on
+Hamunds Fjord? Of that, in truth, thou hast not spoken, since, like a
+love sick boy, thou hast doted on this slender sorceress.
+
+"Thou hast forgotten it, but the seamen who sail by yonder spot, they
+see with horror the huge black Heckla Stone which there hides an awful
+catastrophe, and covers a fearful curse. But huge and heavy as it is,
+it cannot bury it. Demanding vengeance the shades of many thousand dead
+arise, who lie there, through thy crime, and with whom thou hast broken
+faith and oath.
+
+"For how did'st thou swear in that night?
+
+
+"Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I have drawn
+down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and strangers, I
+renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and the love of women.
+To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here cover
+myself on their grave mound, do I belong, and among the living to my
+faithful blood-brethren. And if I break this solemnly-sworn vow, then
+be Dame Harthild's curse wholly fulfilled."
+
+
+"But thou carest no more for Gods or men, no more for us thy
+blood-brethren, who stood by thee to the death; who kept faith with
+thee against our own kindred; who defended thy head against King
+Hartstein's sword when thou layest defenceless as a child upon our
+knees; who for thee have slain our nearest kindred; for thee have given
+up sister and beloved.
+
+"Her also, whose voluptuous lips have kissed forgetfulness upon thy
+forehead, even her also has thy selfishness forgotten; for thou wilt
+bring destruction upon her, as surely as the Gods hear curses, and
+chastise perjury.
+
+"Doubtless thou hast never told the white armed enchantress what a
+fearful curse thou, with each kiss, art drawing down nearer and nearer
+upon her head."
+
+"Silence, Raven," cried Halfred, threateningly, paling with rage and
+dread.
+
+But Eigil continued, "Who knows if the golden eyes would not turn
+shuddering from thee did she know that upon thy head rests the curse of
+the wedded wife, burned through thee--of thy unborn murdered son. And
+thou hast exposed her as well as thyself to the fearful sentence--it
+will be fulfilled, for unerring is such deadly hate:
+
+
+"'Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;
+
+"'Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;
+
+"'Cursed be thy lying lips--They shall wither and smile no more;
+
+"'Yet a twofold curse shall rend thee both, if thou winnest again a
+woman's love.
+
+"'In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than
+thy soul.'"
+
+
+Here sounded a faint soul-harrowing moan from the open gangway.
+
+"Thou here!" cried Eigil, and paused.
+
+Halfred turned. There behind him stood Thora, not white as in general,
+but with crimson glowing head, like a poppy, her eyes gazing wildly
+upwards towards the moon and stars. Suddenly she uplifted both arms on
+high, as though to avert from Halfred's head some fearful stroke from
+the clouds. Then, once more, a faint but heart piercing moan, and she
+fell forwards upon her face, like a crushed flower. Blood flowed from
+her mouth. Halfred would have quickly raised her, but lifeless lay the
+slight form on his arms.
+
+"Dead," cried Halfred, "murdered! And ye have murdered her!"
+
+He let slip the ice-cold form, wrenched with one tremendous spring
+forwards his hammer from Hartvik, and swinging it on high, with one
+stroke of his arm brought it crashing down upon the heads of both his
+blood-brethren, so that brains, blood, and fragments of skulls were
+scattered all around.
+
+With that deed began a slaughter on board the Singing Swan like that of
+the midsummer night; only it was much shorter, because there were fewer
+to slay.
+
+It seemed to Halfred as though his temple veins had burst. He felt,
+instead of brains, only boiling blood in his head; he tasted blood in
+his mouth, he saw only red blood before his eyes. Without choosing,
+without asking who was for or against him, he sprang into the thickest
+of the crowd of armed men, seized man after man by the throat with his
+left hand, and shattered their skulls with the broad side of his
+hammer.
+
+He did not in the least perceive that a handful of men stood by him. He
+did not notice the many wounds he received on arms, face, and hands, in
+close combat with his despairing foes. He raged on and slew, until all
+whom he could see before him lay dead and silent upon the deck. Then he
+turned, still brandishing his hammer, and shouted--
+
+"Who besides Halfred still breathes on this accursed ship?"
+
+Then he saw that some six men of those who had aided him kneeled behind
+him. They had formed, with their shields, a half circle round Thora's
+body, and had turned off many a spear which would have reached the form
+of the white sorceress. Halfred perceived this.
+
+"Stand up," he said, with his left arm wiping away the blood and sweat
+from his forehead, and the white foam from his lips.
+
+He thrust the blood stained hammer into his belt, and kneeled beside
+Thora, pillowing on his breast her face, which had become whiter than
+ever before.
+
+"It was too much to bear and to hear at once. The frightful hailstones
+of this curse have struck the white rose too heavily."
+
+Then she opened her eyes, and murmured, "Not for me, only for thee,
+have the horrors of this curse overwhelmed me."
+
+"She lives! she lives! Praise to you, ye gracious Gods," exulted
+Halfred, "It could not be that she should die for the crimes of others.
+She must be healed, as surely as the Gods live. Had Thora perished for
+mine, for other men's guilt; with this hammer must I have slain all the
+Gods."
+
+And tenderly and softly, as a mother a sick child, the mighty man
+raised his young wife in both arms, and bore her, treading softly, down
+the steps.
+
+But once more before she left the deck, Thora opened her eyes. She saw
+Halfred stained all over with blood. She recognised, by their armour
+and clothing, the bodies of Hartvik and Eigil, with frightfully
+shattered heads. She saw the whole deck strewn with dead. She saw that
+only very few of the ship's crew were left, and shuddering, shrinking,
+she closed her eyes again.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+But Halfred kneeled day and night beside her couch. He held her languid
+hand; he listened to her faint breathing; he kissed from her lips the
+small drops of blood which often gathered there.
+
+He had the board which closed the gangway between the decks taken away,
+and heaven and the stars shone down upon Thora's pillow.
+
+When the day had gone ill, and much blood had flowed, and she fell
+asleep with the falling night, then he would mount a few steps, draw
+his hammer from his belt, and threaten the stars with furious words.
+
+"If ye let her die for others' guilt, then woe to you, ye Gods, woe to
+all who live."
+
+But had the sufferer gained strength, and smiled lovingly and
+peacefully on him; then this same ferocious man mounted upon the deck,
+kneeled down, and cried with outstretched arms, and tear-choked voice,
+
+"Praise, praise, to you, ye gracious Gods! I knew it, verily, that ye
+live and rule justly, and would not let her die for others' guilt."
+
+And if the day wavered between good and evil, between fear and hope,
+then he paced the narrow chamber with hasty steps and murmured
+inaudibly,
+
+"Are there Gods! are there Gods! are there gracious Gods?"
+
+And he believed that Thora heard this not, because she slept.
+
+But she lay often awake, with closed eyes, and understood it all, and
+it troubled her sorely, in waking and dreaming.
+
+And Halfred now told her, at her mute request, all about Dame Harthild,
+and the curse, and how all had happened.
+
+When he had ended she murmured shuddering, "Much has been fulfilled! If
+yet more should be fulfilled, unhappy Halfred."
+
+It seemed, however, that Thora was better.
+
+And Halfred resolved at once to carry her upon deck, that she might
+breathe the fresh air, and again behold the beauty of sea and heaven.
+
+And he had the deck carefully cleansed from all traces of the horrible
+fight, and ordered the sailors, the day before, to run into a coast
+which was bright with summer flowers, and commanded a whole mountain of
+flowers, as he said, to be piled upon the ship, for he would have her
+laid upon a hill of flowers.
+
+And the men obeyed; and the whole deck was so thickly strewn with
+flowers that nowhere was a bit of wood visible.
+
+And close by the mast rose a swelling couch of perfumed light
+wood-grass, and all the loveliest wood flowers, so high that it reached
+to Halfred's breast.
+
+Over this he spread a rich white linen mantle, and laid the heavily
+breathing form upon it.
+
+And again the moon was full, as on that night of the battle on the
+ship. But many storm-rent clouds were still driving across the heavens,
+and the sailing disk of the moon had not pierced through them.
+
+And it was midsummer night. The first that Halfred had not spent by the
+black Heckla Stone in Iceland.
+
+Thora had fallen asleep upon her flowers.
+
+Halfred had covered her with his own mantle. And he sat close by the
+flower hill, and looked into the noble, pale, all bloodless face, and
+then quietly before him again.
+
+"Ye have done all things well, ye merciful dwellers in the stars above.
+Ye have requited me, for that I never altogether doubted ye. I will not
+again question with ye, wherefore ye have ordained for me this second
+fearful thing, that I should be forced to slay my dear blood-brethren,
+and so many of the ship's crew.
+
+"Because ye have saved this wonderful flower, and have not suffered her
+guiltless, to perish for other's guilt, for ever will I bless ye.
+
+"And a song of praise will I compose for you, ye merciful and gracious
+Gods; such as never yet has resounded to your praise. Thanks to you, ye
+gracious Gods!"
+
+And thus musing he fell asleep; for it was many many nights since he
+had slept.
+
+Then a piercing cry awoke him, which seemed to ring from the stars.
+"Halfred." It fell upon his ear from high above.
+
+He started up from slumber, and looked upwards. There he saw what
+filled him with horror. The full moon had, while he slept, pierced the
+clouds, and shone with full radiance upon Thora's face. Now Halfred saw
+her, standing swaying, high on the slender cross-spars, many many feet
+above his head.
+
+Like a white ghost she shone in the moonlight; her widely opened eyes
+looked out into her future; her right hand she stretched, as though
+warding off, into the night. She did not hold fast by the slender
+towering mast, on whose giddying height naught else save the seabird,
+tossing, rested. And yet she stood firmly erect; but in her face was
+despairing woe.
+
+"O Halfred," she wailed, in a low tone of heart-rending anguish, "O
+Halfred--how distracted thy looks--how fearfully tangled hair and
+beard! Ah! how thine eye rolls--and half naked--like a Berseker, in
+shaggy wolf's skin. And how stained thou art with the blood of
+guiltless men. And why threatenest thou the fair-haired shepherd the
+light-hearted boy? Beware--beware the sling--guard thyself--turn thy
+head--the swing whistles--the stone flies--O Halfred--thine eye." And
+bending far forward she stretched, as though she would protect, both
+arms into the air. Now she must fall--so it seemed.
+
+"Fall not, Thora!" cried Halfred upwards.
+
+Then, as though lightning struck, swift as an arrow, with a wild
+shriek, she fell downwards from the giddy height of the mast.
+
+The white forehead struck upon the deck, her head and golden hair were
+bathed in blood.
+
+"Thora! Thora!" cried Halfred, and raised her up, and looked into
+her eyes. Then he fell senseless with her upon his face among the
+flowers--for she was dead.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+When Halfred raised himself again--he had already long since recovered
+consciousness, but not the power to rise--the sun was fast going down.
+
+He called the six seamen, who had held themselves shyly aloof in the
+stern and lower deck, and spoke, but his voice, he himself told me,
+sounded strange to him like that of another person.
+
+"She is dead. Slain for the sins of others.
+
+"There are no Gods.
+
+"Were there Gods I must have dashed out the brains of all of them, one
+by one, with this hammer.
+
+"The whole world, heaven and sea, and hell, I must have burned with
+consuming fire.
+
+"Nothing should any longer be, since Thora no longer is.
+
+"The world can I not destroy.
+
+"But the ships, and all that is upon it, I will burn--a great funereal
+pile for Thora.
+
+"Do as I say to ye."
+
+And he embedded with gentle hands, the dead Thora in the flower mound,
+so that almost nothing of her form and clothing were to be seen.
+
+And by his orders the six men were obliged to bring upon deck all the
+weapons, treasures, clothing, and provisions, which were stored in the
+hold of the Singing Swan.
+
+And Halfred heaped them around the mast upon the flower mound, and
+purple clothing, linen cloth, silken stuff, golden vessels, and soft
+cushions, he piled up all round about.
+
+Then he poured ship's tar over all, and covered it with withered
+brushwood, and dry chips from the kitchen.
+
+And he ordered all sail to be set--a strong warm south wind was
+blowing--
+
+Then he mounted upon the upper deck, and overlooked all.
+
+And he nodded his head, well satisfied. And then he descended to the
+kitchen, to bring up a burning brand.
+
+When he came up again he found that the sailors had lowered the two
+ship's boats, the larger and the smaller boat, they lay tossing by the
+boat ropes, to the right and left of the Singing Swan.
+
+"Hasten, my lord," cried one of the seamen to him; "so soon as thou
+hast thrown the torch, to spring into a boat; for rapidly, in this
+gale, will the Singing Swan flame up, and easily might the fire seize
+the boats, and cause both thee and all of us to perish."
+
+Halfred looked with staring eyes at the man "Would ye still live, after
+ye have seen this?
+
+"Think ye that I will live without Thora? after the guiltless for
+other's,--for my crime,--hath died?
+
+"No, with me shall ye all on this ship burn--truly a worthless funeral
+pile for Thora."
+
+"Thou shalt not destroy us, guiltless. Forbid it, Gods!" cried the man,
+and sprang upon Halfred, to wrest the firebrand from him.
+
+But with a fearful blow of his fist Halfred struck him down upon the
+deck.
+
+Laughing shrilly, he shouted, "Gods! Who dare still to believe in Gods,
+when Thora, guiltless, has died?
+
+"There are no Gods, I tell ye.
+
+"Were there Gods, I must have slain them all.
+
+"And I will slay, as my deadly enemy, whosoever declares that he still
+believes in Gods."
+
+Furiously he brandished the firebrand in his left hand, the hammer in
+his right, and cried to the trembling sailors--
+
+"Choose--If ye believe that there are Gods, then I will strike ye down
+like this too forward comrade.
+
+"But if ye renounce the Gods, then may ye live, and depart, and bear
+witness everywhere that there are no Gods.
+
+"Are there Gods?" shouted the maniac, drawing near to the trembling
+men.
+
+"No, my lord; there are no Gods," cried the men, and fell upon their
+knees.
+
+"Then go--and leave me alone to my own will."
+
+Quickly the seamen descended into the larger boat on the left.
+
+Halfred, however, stuck the hammer in his belt, and strode with rapid
+steps hither and thither upon the deck, and set fire to mast and sail,
+and purple clothing and carved work, and to the neck of the Swan on the
+prow-wailing, the wind passed once more through the curved wings of the
+Swan.
+
+The strong south wind fanned the crackling flames; quickly was the
+ship, on all sides, wrapped in a glowing blaze. The sails streamed like
+fiery wings from the mast.
+
+Silently, with folded arms, Halfred sat upon the upper deck, his eyes
+rigidly fixed upon the flower mound.
+
+Swift as an arrow flew the burning ship before the wind. The fire had
+rapidly consumed the dried wood grass, and Thora's form and face were
+fully visible. Then Halfred saw how the scorching flames seized upon
+Thora's long floating golden hair. "That was the last thing," he said
+to me, "that I saw for a long time."
+
+In unutterable anguish he sprang up, and rushed all along the burning
+ship, straight through the flames, to Thora, He sprang upon the flower
+mound to embrace the body.
+
+Then he felt a frightful blow upon his head, and left eye. The half
+burned mast had fallen with a crash upon him; he was dashed upon his
+face among the flowers and the flames, and darkness closed over him.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+When Halfred again awoke he lay in the bottom of a small boat, which
+drove over the open sea.
+
+His hammer lay at his right hand. A cruise of water stood at his left
+hand. Two oars were in the stem of the boat.
+
+Halfred started up to look around him.
+
+Then he perceived that he could only see with difficulty what was on
+his left side. He felt for his left eye, and found a bleeding cavity. A
+splinter of the mast had struck it out, and a stabbing pain beat
+through his brain, which he said never again left him as long as he
+lived.
+
+He looked at his body. In charred rags his burnt clothing hung upon
+him. Far in the distance he saw a craft which he recognized as the
+larger boat of the Singing Swan.
+
+The Singing Swan herself had disappeared; but away to the south there
+lay a cloud of vapour and smoke over the sea.
+
+The boat in which Halfred stood he recognised as the smaller boat of
+the Singing Swan. Evidently his sailing comrades had dragged the
+half-burned maniac from the burning ship, and saved him.
+
+They had abandoned him to the Gods whom he had blasphemed, and in whom
+they believed, to be saved by them, or perish. But no more fellowship
+would they have with a man stricken by the heaviest of curses--madness.
+
+For mad Halfred was, from the hour when he sprang into the flames, and
+the mast struck him, until shortly before his death.
+
+Therefore could he only tell me very little of all that in the meantime
+happened either to, or through him.
+
+But what he did tell me, here I faithfully write down.
+
+But many many years must he have wandered in madness.
+
+He told me, moreover, that he saw only before his eyes how Thora fell
+from the mast; and how the flames seized her head and hair. And that he
+could only think one single thought. "There are no Gods. Were there
+Gods I must have slain them.
+
+"So must I slay all human beings who believe in Gods; for blotted out
+from the earth shall be the name and remembrance of the Gods."
+
+And he could not die until he had slain the last man who still believed
+in the Gods.
+
+And thus he journeyed all about, everywhere, in his small ship; landed
+in bays and upon islands, lived upon game which he hunted, or upon
+domestic animals which he found in the fields, upon roots and wild
+berries from the woods, upon eggs of sea-birds, and mussels from the
+rocks.
+
+And often the storm waves broke high over his boat, and shattered her
+planks. But she sank not, nor was he drowned.
+
+And one day he saw he was wholly naked, the last charred rags had
+fallen from him. He was chilled, and when he met a wolf in the wood, he
+ran after him so long that he overtook him, slew him with his hammer,
+took off his skin, and hung it round his loins.
+
+And thus he roamed and sailed, half naked, all about the north. And
+none recognised in the maniac Berseker, Halfred Sigskald, the son of
+Oski.
+
+And he told me that when he chanced upon mankind, whither they were
+many or few, he sprang upon them, and shouted to them his question.
+
+"Are there Gods?"
+
+And if they said "Yes," or as the most did, gave him no answer, then he
+slew them all with his hammer. But if they said "No," as also many
+did--for it was already rumoured throughout the whole north, that a
+naked giant wandered through all lands with this question, whom the
+people called "God destroyer"--or if they took to flight, then he let
+them live.
+
+And often, from dread, the peasants and the women gave him fruit,
+bread, milk, and other food. Many however bound themselves in a league
+to go out and slay him, as a wild beast. But they could not stand
+before the fury and strength of the maniac. He killed the bold, the
+timorous fled.
+
+He slept hardly at all at night, therefore they could not surprise him
+in his sleep.
+
+Once, when he spent the night in the bam of a peasant, who had
+previously renounced the Gods, with all his household, the people from
+the court barricaded the straw-filled bam, and set fire to it. But
+Halfred burst through the roof, dashed through the flames and arrows,
+which could not pierce his body, and slew them all with his hammer.
+
+And this maniac wandering endured many years.
+
+And sea storms, and burning suns, and autumn frosts, and winter ice,
+beat upon Halfred's half-naked body.
+
+And his hair and beard stood out like a mane around him.
+
+But no longer dark, as when of yore he trod, as a wooer. King
+Harstein's courts--but snow white. In a single night--the night when
+Thora died--his hair had become white.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+And after many years he came sailing in his rotten boat over the seas
+which play around the island of Caledonia. He landed, seized his
+hammer, and strode upwards to a steep rocky hill, on which sheep and
+goats were grazing.
+
+It was early morning, in the time when roses begin to bloom.
+
+Mist floated over the sea, and upon the cliffs.
+
+Then Halfred saw the shepherd standing above, on the cliff's edge; and
+he played a lovely melody upon his shepherd's pipe.
+
+And at first he doubted whether he should ask this shepherd boy his
+question about the Gods, for he left women and boys unquestioned. And
+this shepherd seemed to him but a boy.
+
+But as he climbed nearer to him he saw that the shepherd carried a
+spear, and a shepherd's sling, with which to kill wolves.
+
+And the shepherd lad believed that this was a robber or a Berseker
+coming against him and his sheep.
+
+And he chose out of his leather pouch a sharp heavy stone, and laid it
+in his sling, and held it ready to cast it.
+
+Halfred held his left hand over the eye that remained to him, and
+looked upward with difficulty, dazzled, for just then the sun broke out
+through the mist clouds exactly above the head of the shepherd, who
+thus saw clearly the figure of the half naked man, with tangled
+floating hair and beard, who now raising the hammer threateningly
+ascended the hill. Upon a slab of stone, under a great ash tree, he
+stopped, and cried to the shepherd--
+
+"Are there Gods, shepherd boy? Sayest thou yes, then thou must die."
+
+"Gods, there are not," replied the shepherd, in a clear voice, "but
+wise men have taught me there lives one Almighty Triune God, Creator of
+Heaven and Earth."
+
+The man with the hammer paused for a moment as if meditating.
+
+Such an answer had he never received.
+
+Soon, however, he sprang threateningly upwards again.
+
+Preventing him, however, the shepherd swung his sling; whirring flew
+the sharp stone; it was a sharp hard three-edged flint stone--I had
+carefully reserved it for some great peril--and alas! alas--woe is me,
+only too truly did it strike. Without a sound Halfred fell, where he
+stood, on his back under the ash tree, himself like to a suddenly
+felled tree.
+
+With a few bounds the shepherd reached the prostrate form, cautiously
+holding his spear before him, lest the enemy should suddenly spring up
+again. For it might be that he only artfully feigned to be wounded.
+
+As he drew nearer, however, he saw that it was no deceit, but rather
+evident truth.
+
+Blood streamed over the fallen man's right cheek, and in the cavity of
+the right eye stuck the sharp flint stone.
+
+But pity mingled with dread seized upon the shepherd, as he gazed in
+the fearful mighty face of the man who lay mute at his feet. Never
+before had he seen so splendid a face; at once so noble, and so sad.
+
+And superstitious fear overcame him, if it might not be the chief of
+the heathen gods, Odhin, the one-eyed, who in the semblance of this
+wanderer with the white beard had appeared to him.
+
+But soon he felt yet deeper sympathy and compassion, for the wounded
+man in a weak voice began:--
+
+"Whosoever thou mayest be, who hast cast this stone, receive the
+thanks, O shepherd boy, of a world and woe weary man. Thou hast taken
+from me the light of the second eye also. I need no longer to see
+men-kind and the heavens. Neither of them have I understood for a long
+time. And soon shall I pass to where questions are no more asked, and
+curses no more cursed. I thank thee, whosoever thou mayest be. Thou
+hast of all living beings--save one--done the best for Halfred
+Hamundson."
+
+Then with a loud cry I threw my spear on one side, fell upon my knees,
+embraced the pale bleeding head, and cried:--
+
+"Halfred, Halfred, my father, forgive, forgive me!--I am the murderer--
+and thy son--"
+
+Now ye who shall one day unroll this parchment--pause at this place,
+and look upwards to the sun, if it is day, and to the stars, if it is
+night, and ask with Halfred--"Are there Gods?"
+
+For I, I, who secretly and in dread write these pages during the night
+hours, I am the shepherd boy, Halfred's son, who have slain him.
+
+And the Gods, or the Christian God, have allowed it to come to pass
+that the son has blinded and murdered the father.
+
+I wept hot tears upon my dear father's pale forehead. But he turned his
+head, as though he would see me, and said--
+
+"It is hard that the curse must be so wholly fulfilled upon me, that I
+must be entirely blinded before death.
+
+"Fain would I have looked closely into thy face, my dear son.
+
+"Now I know not if the golden cloud I saw spread about thy head was thy
+hair or the sun rays.
+
+"Thou seemedst to me fair to look upon, my boy.
+
+"But tell me, how do they call thee?
+
+"Have they verily, at thy birth, named thee Liarson Scoundrelson
+Harthildsvengeance? and how did it happen that thou camest into life. I
+believed Dame Harthild burned in the dwelling house."
+
+Then I laid my dear father's head upon my knees, and dried with the
+long yellow hair I was at that time still allowed to wear, the blood
+from his cheek, and told him all.
+
+How my mother would not be carried from the burning Mead hall back into
+the dwelling house, but rather on to one of the ships of her father.
+
+How from thence, when the battle and the flames threatened dwelling
+house and ships, she was borne by her women and the sailors into a
+boat, and therein rowed out upon the Fjord.
+
+How in the boat she had forthwith given birth to a son, but died
+herself; and ere she died had laid her hand upon my head, and said--
+
+"Not Liarson--not Scoundrelson--not Harthildsvengeance shall he be
+named--no; Fridgifa Sigskaldson."[6]
+
+"She was right in that," said Halfred. "Thou hast aided the Sigskald to
+peace at last."
+
+And how after she was dead the fearful battle and burning on shore
+scared the sailors and women still further out to sea.
+
+And how the small boat was almost sunk by the fury of a storm from the
+west, and all the bondmen and women were washed overboard by the waves,
+save one rower, and a bond maiden, who hid the infant under the stern
+seat.
+
+And how, at last, Christian priests, who were sailing out to convert
+the heathen people, picked up the half starved wanderers, and brought
+all three hither, to the island of the holy Columban; and cleansed both
+the two, and the infant, with the water of baptism.
+
+And how the two, my foster parents, told me all that they knew about my
+father, and mother, up to the time of the burning of the Mead hall.
+
+And how the two were never weary of lauding to me my father's glory in
+battle and song.
+
+And how the monks of Saint Columban, as I grew, would have me taught to
+read and write; but I loved far better to go out with the hunters and
+shepherds of the monastery, and liked to draw targets on the parchment
+leaves for my little cross-bow.
+
+And how, at length, they declared me unfit for books, when with my
+small bolt I had pierced through and through a costly picture which on
+the gold ground of a thumb broad margin represented the whole of the
+Passion, and promoted me with a sound thrashing to be herd boy of the
+monastery.
+
+And how for many years, since my foster parents were dead, I had kept
+the sheep of the monastery; and my sole pleasure therein had been in
+fighting with the bears, the wolves, and the eagles, that attacked the
+lambs.
+
+Or in playing upon my shepherd's pipe, or in listening to the roar of
+the sea and the forest.
+
+And Halfred laid my head upon his broad breast, and folded both his
+arms around it, and laid his hand upon it, and was still and silent for
+a long time.
+
+And I brought him water to drink from the fountain, and milk from my
+flock; and would have drawn the stone from the wound, but he said--
+
+"Leave it, my dear son--the end draws near.
+
+"But I feel the band taken away from my brain, which for many many
+years has pressed upon it.
+
+"And all becomes clear and bright to my thoughts. I can see inwardly
+again how all has been, now that I can no longer see outward things.
+
+"And for thee, and for myself, before I die, I will set forth clearly
+and exactly how all has been. Give me once again milk from thy flock to
+drink."
+
+And I gave him to drink, and he laid his head again upon my knee, and
+began to tell me, quite clearly and distinctly, all that had come to
+pass since that midsummer night.
+
+And from his lips have I learned all, onward from that midsummer night,
+which in the earlier pages of this book I have written out. And much
+have I also learned from him, of those earlier times of which my foster
+parents could know nothing.
+
+And I have kept it all in faithful remembrance.
+
+And as the evening fell he came to the end of his account, and he said,
+
+"Lay my face so that once more the sun shall shine upon it. Fain would
+I feel the dear Lord once again."
+
+And I did as he commanded.
+
+And he breathed deeply, and said:
+
+"It must certainly be spring. A perfume of wild roses floats to me."
+
+And I told him that he lay under a blooming rose-bush.
+
+And then a blackbird raised his sweet song from the bush.
+
+"Thus I hear once more the blackbird's evening song," said Halfred.
+
+"Now farewell all. Sun and sea, forest and stars of heaven, wild rose
+perfume, and songs of birds; and farewell to thee, my dear son. I thank
+thee that thou hast released me from madness, and an evil life.
+
+"I can, to requite thee, as all my heritage, leave thee only this
+hammer. Guard it faithfully.
+
+"Whether there be Gods--I know not. Methinks that men can never search
+it out. But I tell thee, my son, whether Gods live or not, hammer
+throwing, and harp playing, and sunshine, and the kiss of woman, these
+are the rewards of life.
+
+"Mayest thou win a wife who is but a faint reflection of Thora.
+
+"Then hail to thee, my son!
+
+"Bury me here, where mingles the roar of the forest and the sea.
+
+"Farewell my dear son. Dame Harthild's curse thou hast turned for me
+into a blessing."
+
+And he died.
+
+The blackbird ceased singing in the bush. And as the sun sank, one warm
+full flood of his rays streamed full upon that mighty face.
+
+Thus died the son of Oski.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+When now my dear father was dead, whom I myself had slain, I wept
+bitterly, and lay all night by the side of the dead.
+
+And when the sun again arose I considered what I should now do.
+
+At first I thought I would drive the flock to the monastery, which lay
+some six stages distant, and relate all to the monks, and confess how I
+had, all unwittingly, slain my own father; and beg for absolution for
+myself, and for a Christian grave for my dear father.
+
+But I bethought me that the monks would not bury my father with
+Christian honours, since he had died a heathen. And neither would they
+allow me to burn him, after the custom of the heathen people, because
+the heathen gods would thus be brought much into remembrance. And they
+would certainly throw him, unhonoured, into the sea, as they had
+already done to a heathen from Zealand.
+
+So I resolved to be silent about it all, and not to betray my dear dead
+father to the priests.
+
+And thus could I neither confess the death blow, nor receive counsel
+respecting my guiltless crime.
+
+And from thence was the beginning of my freeing my mind from the monks
+and their creed.
+
+And I knew, quite near, of a cavern, which was known only to me, for it
+had a very small entrance, and I had only discovered it because I had
+followed a stone marten which had slipped into it. A fallen block of
+stone concealed the entrance, and I found many ashes and remnants of
+bones within the spacious cavern, which opened towards the sea. In
+early days, no doubt, the heathen Scots had burnt their dead here.
+Thither I carried, not without much difficulty, my dear dead father,
+and set him upright in the cavern, his face turned towards the sea. The
+roots of the oaks and ashes which waved above the cavern, penetrated
+through the stone downwards almost to his head. Above him roared the
+forest, before him roared the sea. There did I place my dear father,
+and rolled the stone again to the entrance.
+
+But even his hammer, his only possession, I dared not keep. Even should
+I tell the monks I had found it, or bought it from sailors--they would
+not have left it with me, for strong heathen victory runes were
+engraved on the haft.
+
+So I laid then the hammer also close to the right hand of the dead.
+"Guard it for me, dear father," I said, "till I need it again. Then
+will I fetch it."
+
+But from that hour there came a great change over my disposition.
+
+That which had most delighted me, to fight for my sheep with wolves,
+bears, and birds of prey--that attracted me no more.
+
+Rather the question which had driven my dear father even to madness, if
+there be a God, or Gods? And how it could be that such fearful things
+should come to pass as are here set down in this history, from the vow
+upon the Bragi cup, on to this great horror, that the son had slain his
+own father. These questionings seized upon me, and would not let me
+rest, any more than my dear father.
+
+And as my dear father of yore looked up to the stars, and implored the
+heathen Gods for enlightenment, so also did I look up to the stars for
+illumination, praying to Christ and the saints.
+
+But to me also the heavens were dumb.
+
+Then I said to myself--"Here on the sheep pastures, and from the roar
+of the sea, and from the light of the stars, wilt thou find no answer
+all thy life long, any more than thy dear father.
+
+"But in the books of the monks, the Latin ones and those others, with
+the crinkled runic flourishes, lie hidden all holy and worldly wisdom.
+
+"And when thou can'st read them, all will be clear to thee in heaven
+and upon earth."
+
+And so I took leave of my dear father, gathered my sheep together, and
+drove them to the monastery.
+
+"Art thou gone mad, Irenæus?" asked the porter, as he opened the door
+for me and my bleating charge, "that thou drivest home before shearing
+time. They will scourge thee again."
+
+"I was mad," I replied, "but now I will become a scholar. Now another
+may scare the wolves. I will learn Greek."
+
+And thus I also said to the good Abbot Aelfrik, before whom I was at
+once led for chastisement.
+
+But he said--
+
+"Lay the scourge aside. Perchance the boy, who has always been a
+heathenish worldly Saul, has become suddenly a Paul, through the grace
+of the holy Columban. He shall have his wish. If he holds to it--then
+it is a work of the saints. If his zeal flags, then it is a wile of
+Satan, and he shall go out again to his sheep."
+
+But I kept silence, and said nothing about the reason for which I
+wished to learn.
+
+And my zeal did not flag, and I learned Latin and Greek, and read all
+the books that they had in the monastery, the Christian ones of the
+church fathers, which they call theology, and many heathen ones, of the
+old world wisdom, which they call philosophy.
+
+And I soon perceived that often, in one church father, was found just
+the contrary of what was in another church father.
+
+And that Aristotle reviled Plato, and that Cicero tried to make sense
+of it all, and could not.
+
+And after that I, in three, four years, had read through all the books
+which they had in the monastery, and had contended all night long with
+all the monks in the monastery, I knew no more of that which I wished
+to know than on the day when I had buried my dear father.
+
+The old good-natured fat Abbot Aelfrik however--he was of noble race,
+and had formerly been a warrior at the court of the Scottish King, and
+loved me--often said to me,
+
+"Give up these searchings Fridgifa"--for he willingly called me by my
+heathen name when we were alone. "Thou must believe, not question. And
+drink often, between whiles good ale or wine, and sing a song to the
+harp"--for he had taught me harp playing, in which I had great delight,
+and which he loved much, and everyone said that none could play the
+harp like me in all Scotland; "and forget not either often to throw the
+lance at the target in the monastery garden. Much book reading withers
+the body."
+
+And I remembered that my dear father's last words had been just the
+same. And often and often I stole away to my dear father's hill,
+brought forth the hammer, exercised myself in hammer throwing by star
+light, and sat then for hours before the cavern, and listened to the
+roar of wind, wood, and wave.
+
+And now it often seemed to me as if, in such moods, I came nearer to
+the truth than through all the books of the Christian priests, and
+heathen philosophers.
+
+And I almost believe I shall not stay much longer in the monastery.
+
+Especially since, lately, a skald from Halogaland visited the
+monastery, and told of the life at the court of King Harald; of his
+lordly royal hall, in which twenty skalds by turns play the harp.
+
+And how the boldest heroes ever willingly enter his service.
+
+And how year by year his warlike expeditions are crowned with victory.
+
+And of Gunnlôdh, his wonderfully beautiful golden-haired daughter, who
+pledges the bravest heroes and the best skalds in the horn.
+
+Since then, my inclination no longer turns towards psalm-singing and
+vigils.
+
+But certainly they will not easily let me leave the monastery.
+
+For because I can write Latin and Greek well, Aaron, the new Abbot, the
+Italian, who has succeeded the good peace-loving Aelfrik, makes me
+unceasingly write out manuscripts, which they then sell for a great
+price, in Britain, and even in Germany.
+
+And Aaron is very sharp upon my track, because I seem to him to lack
+true Christian zeal.
+
+And did he know that upon these parchment sheets, whereupon I ought to
+have written out, for the seventeenth time, the treatise of Lactantius
+"de mortibus persecutorum," I have, by night, written out the history
+of my dear father--it would not pass without many days' fasting, and
+some score of penitential psalms.
+
+Lately he actually threatened me to have "some one" scourged, who ever
+again came too late for the Hora.
+
+That "someone" was I. For I had just begun to write about the battle on
+the Singing Swan, and could not tear myself away from it when the Hora
+bell called.
+
+But ere the son of Halfred the Sigskald endures scourging on the
+back,--rather will I slay Aaron and all his Italian monks.
+
+But for slaying I need something different from this copying style.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+Thus far had I written by Good Friday.
+
+For a long while could I not contrive to write further. For the hatred,
+jealousy, and mistrust of Aaron and his hangers-on--there are many of
+his Italian countrymen come with him from Rumaberg--grow constantly
+greater. He has forbidden me to write by night.
+
+Only by day, and in the library, no longer in my cell, may I write. And
+the transcript of Lactantius I am to deliver to him on the appointed
+parchment by Whitsuntide, on pain of seven days' fasting.
+
+My resentment increases against this priestly tyranny.
+
+Only rarely, and by stealth, can I get at these pages. Also I can only
+with great difficulty reach my dear father's hill. They track my lonely
+wanderings.
+
+It will soon come to open war. At any rate I will provide myself with a
+sure weapon.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+With difficulty did I, yesterday evening, in the sleeve of my frock,
+bring my dear father's hammer into the monastery. I have hidden it in
+the outer court, but where--that I do not trust even to these pages. I
+think much over the question of my dear father, and I believe that soon
+I shall find the truth.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+For three days I could not write at all. The skald from King Harald's
+court has again been a guest in the monastery.
+
+I have made him tell me all about the life at that court. It is just as
+in my dear father's days. Certainly King Harald and all his courtiers
+are heathens, and their warlike expeditions are mostly against
+Christian kings and bishops. But that does not make me waver in my
+purpose, which is firmly resolved. He told me much about Gunnlôdh.
+
+In twenty nights a ship of King Harald's will sail again into the
+harbour from...
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+I know now the answer to Halfred's question.
+
+There are no heathen Gods.
+
+But neither is there any Christian God, who, almighty, all merciful,
+all wise, allowed that the father should be slain by the son.
+
+Rather, that only happens upon earth which is necessary, and what men
+do and do not, that must they do and not do; as the north wind must
+bring cold, the south wind warmth; and as the stone thrown must fall to
+the earth. Why must it fall? No one knows. But it must.
+
+But men should not sigh and question and despair, rather rejoice in
+hammer throwing and harp playing, in sunshine and Greek wine, and in
+the beauty of women.
+
+For that is a lie that it is a sin to long for a beautiful woman.
+Otherwise must the human race die out; if all become so devout as no
+more to long for a woman.
+
+And the dead are dead, and no longer living.
+
+Otherwise had the shade of my dear father long since appeared to me, at
+my earnest entreaty.
+
+Of what alone, however, man should believe; of that I will speak
+hereafter.
+
+Without fear shall he live, and without hope shall he die.
+
+In this monastery, however, will I remain no longer than----.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+Thus far had he written, the God forsaken Brother Irenæus. Here fell
+the righteous judgment of Heaven upon him.
+
+I, Aaron of Perusia, called by the grace of God to feed these lambs of
+the holy Columban, had also the grace given to me to drive the diseased
+sheep from the flock.
+
+Long was I on the track of him and his worldly, heathenish, sinful,
+ungodly, yea God-blaspheming doings; his guilty conscience had rightly
+boded this. Step by step I had him watched by Italian brethren, full of
+godly zeal, without his observing it. The most pious of them, Brother
+Ignatius of Spoletum, succeeded in winning his confidence--for stupidly
+unsuspicious are they--these barbarians--through often allowing him to
+entertain him with harp playing, Irenæus begged from him one day some
+ink powder from his store, as he had used up his appointed portion, and
+from the "Head of the Pharisees"--thus the shameless sinner termed his
+abbot and chief shepherd--could not obtain fresh supplies, without
+delivering over what he had written with the former supply.
+
+Brother Ignatius at once, as was his pious obligation, told all to me,
+his abbot. But the ink powder he gave to him, with that wisdom of the
+serpent which is well pleasing to God in his priests.
+
+Soon thereafter the sinner set out again upon one of those secret
+expeditions which have ever been his wont, remaining out the whole
+night when some errand had allowed him to escape from the monastery. I
+never forbade him to go out, for I hoped through one of these secret
+expeditions, most easily to discover his hidden doings. I sent, spies
+after him every time; but every time he suddenly and mysteriously
+disappeared among the wooded crags along the shore.
+
+This time I myself sent him out, and as soon as he had left the
+monastery court I at once made a most rigorous search through the whole
+of his cell.
+
+There at last I found, after much labour, these blasphemous pages,
+written very small, in his accursed graceful handwriting, and artfully
+hidden in a crevice between two stone slabs of the floor.
+
+I took the devil's work with me, and read and read, with growing
+horror. So much sin, so much worldliness, so much heathenish delight in
+fighting and singing, in drinking and carnal love, so much, finally, of
+doubt, of unbelief, of naked blasphemy, had, under the roof of the holy
+Columban, under my pastoral staff, grown up, and been written out!
+
+Abhorrence seized upon me, and holy indignation.
+
+Forthwith I summoned the Italian brethren to special secret council and
+judgment. I pointed out to them the deadly poison of these writings,
+which indeed were full of the seven deadly sins; and the unanimous
+sentence was pronounced. First, three hundred lashes with the scourge;
+then immuring in the chastisement cell, with vinegar, water, and bread,
+until repentant contrition and the fullest amendment were made
+manifest.
+
+Impatiently we awaited the return of the accursed sinner.
+
+With the vesper bell he entered the door of the monastery court.
+
+Immediately I placed myself before the door, shot the iron bolt,
+and called forward the Italian brethren. The greater number, the
+Anglo-Saxons, who were well disposed towards the blasphemer, on account
+of his sinful harp playing, and lukewarm in zeal for the Lord, I had
+before collected in the refectory, and locked up until the offender
+should be secured.
+
+Hastily the Italians came, and behind them several armed bondmen of the
+monastery. Then, in place of all accusation, I held up these pages
+before the miserable wretch, and pronounced the agreed upon sentence.
+
+Then, ere we were aware, the God-detested criminal sprang with
+lightning speed to the cistern in the court, and drew forth from behind
+it a frightful horrible hammer.
+
+"Dear hammer of Halfred, aid his son today," he cried in a threatening
+voice.
+
+And the next thing was--it seemed to me as though the Heavens fell upon
+my head and neck--I sank upon the ground.
+
+Only after a long while did I awake again.
+
+Then I lay upon my bed, a man given up, and the brethren from Italy
+lamented around my couch; and recounted that the furious Samson had,
+with a second blow, shattered the bolt on the door, and made his
+escape. The monastery servants, indeed, followed him, and several of
+the brethren, led by brother Ignatius. But when the fugitive suddenly
+turned, and slew the foremost of the pursuers, one of the monastery
+servants, who would have seized him, with the frightful hammer, and
+struck down brother Ignatius, severely wounded, the others gave up the
+pursuit. At once he again disappeared, as always, among the cliffs and
+woods.
+
+Never have we seen him since, although from the very day of my
+awakening I had him carefully searched for all along the coast. The
+cavern of which these accursed pages speak could we not find. I would
+have had the bones of the old heathen murderer thrown into the sea.
+Probably the son concealed himself there, until he could leave the
+island on some ship. I however, in consequence of the blow from his
+hammer, which shattered my shoulder and collar bone, on one side, have
+to suffer all my life long from a hideous twist of the neck, which is
+exceedingly prejudicial to the dignity of an abbot.
+
+This sinful book of abominations however, I sent to Rome, to the holy
+Bishop, with the question, whether we should burn it, or preserve it,
+to aid in tracing and convicting the escaped monk, should we succeed in
+capturing him again?
+
+For a long long time came no answer.
+
+But after many many years the book came back from Rome, with the
+command to keep it--only the blasphemous passages therein were
+erased--and as a warning example to others, was the Abbot of St.
+Columban to append to these pages an account from an accompanying
+letter of the Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg, of how dreadful a fate
+had, through the righteous judgments of God, ended this apostate's
+sinful life of the highest earthly enjoyment; which he--this may
+console us--will doubtless have to expiate in the eternal torments of
+hell.
+
+From the Archbishop's letter it appeared there could be no doubt that
+our perjured Brother, Irenæus, is none other than one who, in all the
+courts of the north, has been for many years celebrated as a warrior
+and singer, and crowned with all earthly fame and happiness, Jarl
+Sigurd Halfredson; who appeared suddenly at the court of King Harald of
+Halogaland--none knew whence he came--with one of the skalds of the
+King, and through hammer throwing, and harp playing, soon won for
+himself such renown that King Harald gave him three castles, the
+command of all his armies, and his daughter Gunnlôdh in marriage.
+
+But King Harald was the most furious Christian hater, and the bitterest
+opposer of the Gospel in all the North.
+
+And for long years Jarl Sigurd led the troops of King Harald, and
+always led them to victory.
+
+The Lord at that time tried his own with severe affliction. He had
+turned his face from them, and the vassals of the Bishops, and of the
+Christian princes of the North, could not stand before Jarl Sigurd, and
+his dreaded hammer.
+
+But the end of this man of blood was horrible, and therefore it has
+been--by the command of the holy Father--copied from the letter of the
+Archbishop, as a fearful warning to all who read these pages.
+
+As he, that is to say, after once more in a great battle overthrowing
+the Bishop's troops, was pursuing them in sinful joy, and shouting
+"victory, victory!" he was mortally wounded by an arrow in the breast.
+
+King Harald caused his heathen priests and the skalds to draw near to
+the right side of the death bed, to console him with songs of Valhalla.
+
+The wounded man waved them away with his hand.
+
+Then drew near, on the other side of the dying, three Christian
+priests, who had been made prisoners in the battle, and would have
+given him the holy last Sacrament, if he acknowledged the Lord.
+
+Indignantly the godless sinner repulsed them with his arm. And when
+King Harald, astonished, asked him in whom then he believed, if not in
+the heathen Gods, nor in the white Christ? he laughed and said--"I
+believe in myself, and my strength. Kiss me once more, Gunnlôdh, and
+give me Greek wine in a golden cup."
+
+And he kissed her, and drank, and said--
+
+"Glorious it is to die in victory"--and died.
+
+But he remained unhonoured and unburied by heathen priests and
+Christians, since he had defiantly rejected both.
+
+So then it is certain and set forth as a warning to all--but to us a
+righteous consolation--that the God accursed soul of this most
+blasphemous of all sinners must burn in hell for ever and ever--Amen.
+
+
+
+
+                              POSTSCRIPT.
+
+
+What I here wrote down, years since, as my belief concerning the fate,
+after death, of this abandoned sinner, has been fully confirmed by a
+delightful testimony.
+
+That is to say, Brother Ignatius--who lately died--and certainly in
+great sanctity--was before his death honoured by a wonderful vision.
+
+Saint Columban, himself, in a dream, led him by the hand into hell, and
+there he saw, in the deepest pit of sulpher, Brother Irenæus, burning
+whole and entire.
+
+But upon his left shoulder blade, on the spot where he struck me, his
+Abbot, sat an infernal raven, and hacked unceasingly through the
+shoulder even to his blaspheming heart.
+
+Of this has Brother Ignatius assured us before his death. And therefore
+have I hereunto add this also, about the raven and the shoulder blade,
+in order that all who read these pages, but especially the disciples of
+the holy Columban in this monastery, may learn the chastisement which
+awaits him who lifts heart and hand against his soul's shepherd, the
+Abbot.
+
+
+
+                                 AMEN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: "Oski," in reality one of the special forms of Odin, is,
+in the Scandinavian mythology, the god who fulfils all the desires of
+men.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Here the parchment is pierced through, and with different
+ink three crosses are signed over the burnt out part.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cup sacred to Bragi, the god of poetry. At the Yule feast
+the heathen were wont, while the Bragi cup was passing round, to pledge
+themselves by vows to the performance of deeds of special danger or
+renown. They swore upon the Bragi cup, or upon the boar's head, which
+was the principal dish of the feast.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A poetical expression of the Edda for the beginning of
+drunkenness.]
+
+[Footnote 5: "Brisingamene," the necklace of Freya, the goddess of
+love, was the symbol of female charm and attraction.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _i.e._ Peacebringer.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
+
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+<title>Saga of Halfred the Sigskald</title>
+<meta name="Author" content="Felix Dahn">
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Saga of Halfred the Sigskald
+       A Northern Tale of the Tenth Century
+
+Author: Felix Dahn
+
+Translator: Sophie F. E. Veitch
+
+Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32443]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p class="continue">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p class="hang1">1. Page scan source:<br> http://www.archive.org/details/sagahalfredsigs00veitgoog</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h1>SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD</h1>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h1>SAGA</h1>
+
+<h3>OF</h3>
+
+<h1>HALFRED THE SIGSKALD</h1>
+<br>
+<h2><i>A Northern Tale of the Tenth</i>
+<i>Century</i></h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>FELIX DAHN.</h2>
+
+<br>
+<hr class="W10">
+<h3>TRANSLATED BY SOPHIE F. E. VEITCH.</h3>
+<hr class="W10">
+<br>
+
+
+<h2>ALEXANDER GARDNER,<br>
+PAISLEY; <span class="sc">AND 12</span> PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.</h2>
+<hr class="W10">
+<h2>1886.</h2>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<table style="width:80%; margin-right:10%;">
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" style="font-size:80%; text-align:right">PAGE</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch01" href="#div1_ch01">CHAPTER I.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch02" href="#div1_ch02">CHAPTER II.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch03" href="#div1_ch03">CHAPTER III.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch04" href="#div1_ch04">CHAPTER IV.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch05" href="#div1_ch05">CHAPTER V.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch06" href="#div1_ch06">CHAPTER VI.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch07" href="#div1_ch07">CHAPTER VII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch08" href="#div1_ch08">CHAPTER VIII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch09" href="#div1_ch09">CHAPTER IX.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch10" href="#div1_ch10">CHAPTER X.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch11" href="#div1_ch11">CHAPTER XI.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch12" href="#div1_ch12">CHAPTER XII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch13" href="#div1_ch13">CHAPTER XIII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch14" href="#div1_ch14">CHAPTER XIV.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch15" href="#div1_ch15">CHAPTER XV.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch16" href="#div1_ch16">CHAPTER XVI.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch17" href="#div1_ch17">CHAPTER XVII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch18" href="#div1_ch18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_ch19" href="#div1_ch19">CHAPTER XIX.</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_post" href="#div1_post">POSTSCRIPT</a>,</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr></table>
+<br>
+
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h1>Saga of Halfred the Sigskald.</h1>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch01" href="#div1Ref_ch01">CHAPTER I.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">Nigh upon fifty winters ago, there was growing up in the North
+a boy
+named Halfred. In Iceland, on the Hamund Fjord, stood the splendid hall
+of his father, Hamund.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At that time, so the heathen people believe, elves and goblins
+still
+moved about freely among the Northern nations. And many say that an
+elf, who had been friendly to the powerful Hamund, drew near to the
+shield cradle of the boy Halfred, and for his first food laid wild
+honey upon his lips, and said--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Victory shall be thine in harping--<br>
+Victory shall be thine in singing--<br>
+Sigskald shall all nations name thee.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred grew, and was strong and beautiful. He sat often
+alone on
+the cliffs, and listened how the wind played in rifts in the crags, and
+he would fain have tuned his harp to the same strain, and because he
+could not do it he was filled with fury.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when this fury swept over his forehead the veins in his
+temples
+swelled, and there came a red darkness before his eyes. And then his
+arm sometimes did that whereof his head knew nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When his father died Halfred took the seat of honour in the
+hall. But
+he took no heed to preserve or improve his inheritance. He gave himself
+up to harp playing and feats of arms. He devised a new strain in
+singing, &quot;Halfred's strain,&quot; which greatly charmed all who heard it,
+and in which none could imitate him. And in hatchet throwing, not one
+of the men of Iceland could equal him. He dashed his hammer through
+three shields, and at two ships' lengths he would not miss with its
+sharp edge a finger broad arrow shaft.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His mind was now set upon building a dragon ship, strong and
+splendid,
+worthy of a Viking, wherein he might make voyages, to harry or levy
+toll upon island and mainland, or to play his harp in the halls of
+kings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And through many an anxious night he considered how he should
+build his
+ship, and could devise no plan. Yet the image of the ship was always
+before his eyes, as it must be, with prow and stem, with board and bow;
+and instead of a dragon it must carry a silver swan on the prow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when, one morning, he came out of the hall, and looked out
+over the
+Fjord, towards the north, there, from the south-south-east, came
+floating into Hamund's Bay a mighty ship, with swelling sails. Then
+Halfred and his house-churls seized their weapons, and hurried out
+either to drive away or welcome the sailors. Ever nearer drove the
+ship, but neither helmet nor spear flashed on board, and though they
+shouted through the trumpet all was still. Then Halfred and his
+followers sprang into the boat, and rowed to the great ship, and saw
+that it was altogether empty, and climbed on board. And this was the
+most splendid dragon ship that ever spread sail on the salt seas. But
+instead of a dragon it bore a silver swan upon the prow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And moreover also, Halfred told me, the ship was in all things
+the
+same as the image he had seen in his night and day dreams; forty oars
+in iron rowlocks, the deck pavillioned with shields, the sails
+purple-striped, the prow carved with runes against breakers, and the
+ropes of sea-dogs' skin. And the high-arched silver wings of the swan
+were ingeniously carved, and the wind rushed through them with a
+melodious sound.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred sprang up to the seat of honour on the upper-deck,
+upon
+which lay spread a purple royal mantle, and a silver harp, with a
+swan's head, leaned against it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred said--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Singing Swan shalt thou be called, my ship;<br>
+Singing and victorious shalt thou sail.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">And many said the elf who had given him his name had sent the
+Singing
+Swan to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But that is an idle tale of the heathen people. For it has
+often
+happened that slightly anchored ships have broken away in storms, while
+the seamen were carousing ashore.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch02" href="#div1Ref_ch02">CHAPTER II.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And forthwith it became known that Halfred had armed the best
+of his
+house churls, and his followers, with good weapons, to set forth as a
+Viking to conquer, and as a Skald to sing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And over the whole of Iceland, and the islands all around,
+there was
+much talk about the Singing Swan, which &quot;Oski&quot;<a name="div2Ref_note01" href="#div2_note01"><sup>1</sup></a> himself--that is the
+god of the heathen people--had sent to Halfred Hamundson. &quot;He is the
+son of Oski; nothing shall miscarry with him, be it man's hate, or
+woman's love, in sword thrusts, or in harp playing; great treasure and
+rich Skald rewards shall he win, and his gentle hand can take and
+spend, but keep nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And now there came many, drawn to him by the wish to be his
+sailing
+comrades, even from the furthest islands of the western sea, so that he
+could have manned seven ships. He manned, however, only the Singing
+Swan, with three hundred men whom he chose himself, and with them he
+set sail upon the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And now there would be much which might be told about the
+great
+victories which Halfred won, through many long years, with hammer
+and harp, on all the seas from Mikilgard--which the Latins call
+Byzantium--even to the island of Hibernia, in the far west.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And of all these feats and victories, voyages and minstrelsy,
+and
+contests of arms and harp playing, had I, as a child by the cloister
+hearth, heard the Skalds sing, and wandering guests recount, long
+before I looked into Halfred's sea-grey eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For during the long time that he was wholly lost sight of, and
+the
+Singing Swan had vanished in flames, and all people held Halfred for
+dead, the Skalds composed many songs about him. But that was later.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At that time Halfred thus roamed about everywhere, singing and
+triumphing, winning fights at sea, and contests in palaces. And because
+he was victor over all the Skalds in singing competitions, the people
+named him &quot;Sigskald,&quot; and from that, the heathen people, prophesying
+backwards, invented, perhaps, that fable about the elf which had given
+him honey, and his name, in the cradle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he amassed great spoils, and many hundred rings of red
+gold, and
+gave them all away again to his sailing comrades. And yet he still
+heaped up rich hords upon the Singing Swan; and brought also much
+treasure to Hamund's hall, where he was wont to pass the winter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he splendidly improved the hall, and built over against it
+a great
+Mead hall, in which a thousand men could drink: and six steps led to
+the seat of honour in the Mead hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the most costly thing among all his spoils was a
+candelabrum--&quot;Lampas&quot; the Greeks call it--half as high as a man, of
+pure gold, with seven flaming arms, which far away, in the land of
+Greece, he had borne away from a marble city that he had burned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this treasure Halfred himself prized highly, who otherwise
+cared
+nothing for gold. And at the Yule feast, and the Midsummer feast, and
+at all high festivals, it must stand close before him upon the table,
+with its sevenfold flame.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But that at which everyone wondered most was, that all people
+who saw
+Halfred, and heard him sing, seemed to be forced to be friendly to him.
+It often happened that even the Skalds whom he vanquished in song
+contests, themselves conceived great love for him, and praised his
+strains more than their own.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this is truly the most incredible thing that can be told
+of Skalds.
+Compared to this it is a small thing that a wooer whom he had
+supplanted in a woman's favour should become his friend and blood
+brother. But that was later.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And, indeed, because everything seemed miraculous, those
+heathen people
+invented that legend that he was the son of Oski, and that therefore
+neither men's wrath nor maiden's pride could withstand him; that a god
+was throned upon his forehead, who dazzled all eyes; with many more
+such fables.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Above all they say that his smile could conquer all hearts, as
+the
+midsummer sun melts the ice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And about this also they tell a story.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That is, that once, in the depth of winter, he found at the
+foot of
+Snaeja-Tjoell, a little maiden of five years old, nearly frozen to
+death. She had strayed from her mother's cottage, and could not find
+the way back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And although Halfred was very weary, and had many followers
+with him,
+he sent them all nevertheless alone to the hall, took the child himself
+upon his shoulder, and travelled many stages further, always tracking
+the tiny footprints of the little maiden, who had fallen fast asleep,
+until he found her mother's cottage. And he laid the child in the
+mother's arms, and she woke and smiled. And the mother wished for him,
+as a reward, that he should smile henceforth like a child that sees its
+mother again. And this also had Oski granted to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people; for there
+is no
+Oski; and no heathen gods; and perchance also no<a name="div2Ref_note02" href="#div2_note02"><sup>2</sup></a> .... I say that he
+carried the child back himself, carefully, to the mother. Many a Viking
+would only, from compassion, have thrust her deeper in the snow; the
+best would have given her to one of his followers to carry to the hall.
+But to carry her back, himself, through the snow, to her mother, that
+would no Viking have done that I know; above all when he was tired and
+hungry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I say, then, in Halfred there was great goodness of heart,
+such as is
+generally wont to be found alone in innocent children; and therefore
+his smile was heart-winning, as is a child's smile. And out of this,
+therefore, have the heathen people invented that gift of Oski.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For that he did carry the child to the mother, that I
+certainly,
+myself, fully and undoubtingly believe of Halfred. And I would be the
+last not to believe it of him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nevertheless he could become suddenly very wrathful, when the
+veins in
+his temples swelled. Then, often, if any enemy roused him by defiance,
+he would dash, blindly raging, among the spears, like a Berseker.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Over and above all this, they tell many tales of the god-like
+gifts
+which made maidens love him. But that is not a miracle, as it comes
+very near being that a conquered singer should love him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For he possessed a brilliant noble countenance, which no one
+forgot who
+had once seen it, and a heart-winning soft, yet powerful voice. He
+avoided rude jesting; and he could always divine what was the peculiar
+charm of every fair maiden's beauty; and he knew how to put it to her
+as a riddle, over which she herself had long been vainly pondering.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But other riddles, also, he knew well how to find out.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch03" href="#div1Ref_ch03">CHAPTER III.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And thus had Halfred now, for many years, roamed about as a
+Viking and
+as a Skald, and had won fame and red gold; and once more he again
+celebrated the Yule feast at home in his hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And there were very many hundred men assembled there in the
+Mead hall
+which he had fitted up. All his sailing comrades, and very many
+Icelanders, and many foreign guests, from Austrvegr, and even from
+Hylmreck, and Dyflin, on the western sea. Among them also the Skald,
+Vandrad, from Tiunderland.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the Bragi cup<a name="div2Ref_note03" href="#div2_note03"><sup>3</sup></a> passed round, and many men vowed vows
+thereon, and
+many a one pledged himself to daring deeds, which he would perform
+before Midsummertide, or die. Halfred also, as well as the guests, had
+drunk a great deal of mead; more than he was wont to drink, as he
+himself, afterwards, earnestly told me.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this also the heathen point to in him as a miraculous gift
+of his
+father Oski; that he could drink far far more than other men, in
+fact--and they hold him therein very lucky--as many horns full as he
+chose, without the heron of forgetfulness<a name="div2Ref_note04" href="#div2_note04"><sup>4</sup></a> sweeping through his
+dizzied brain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this is foolishly said, for even I can scare away the
+heron, if I,
+after each draught, think quietly to myself, and do not propose many
+toasts; for such attract the heron.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred had now certainly emptied many horns; but as yet he
+had vowed
+no vow. Silent and grave he sat in the seat of the honour, as befitted
+the host; exhorted the tardy drinkers--there were not however many of
+them--by sending the cup bearer to them, with the drinking horn; and
+smiled quietly, when many a one vowed vows which he would never fulfil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then arose from his seat Vandrad the Skald, from Tiunderland,
+and stood
+upon the second step of the dais, and spoke. Halfred had vanquished him
+five times, and yet the Skald was a faithful loving friend to him--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Vows have here been now vowed by many<br>
+Guests of small worth.<br>
+But Halfred, the Lord of the mead hall,<br>
+Still holds his thoughts hidden.<br>
+I laud him, most lofty,<br>
+No vows hath he need of,<br>
+His name may content him.<br>
+Yet I miss in the mead hall<br>
+One thing to the mighty,<br>
+To the man is awanting<br>
+A maiden to wife.<br>
+What rapture if only,<br>
+From the high seat of honour,<br>
+The horn to us, downward,<br>
+The dazzling white hand<br>
+Of the nobly born Princess,<br>
+Harthild, should hold.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">All the guests kept silence when Vandrad had spoken. Halfred
+looked
+proudly down upon him, and very gently, he told me later, he felt the
+veins in his temples swell, as, smiling, he asked the Skald--but it was
+the smile of a king, not a child's smile--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;And what then of Harthild,<br>
+Her beauty and fame,<br>
+Canst thou here sound the praise,<br>
+In Halfred's mead hall?&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Then said Vandrad--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;For all that thou knowest,<br>
+Thou far roaming Viking,<br>
+Hast thou never heard Harthild's<br>
+Descent and renown<br>
+Proclaimed on the harp?<br>
+From Upsala's ancient<br>
+Deep rooted stem<br>
+The maiden is sprung.<br>
+Hartstein the Haggard,<br>
+Men call her father,<br>
+The powerful monarch<br>
+Of far spreading fame.<br>
+His daughter close guarded<br>
+He haughtily holds;<br>
+All wooers rejecting,<br>
+Who cannot excel him<br>
+In throwing the hammer.<br>
+And no less the maiden<br>
+All men avoideth,<br>
+Man-like her own mood.<br>
+With good cause she boasteth<br>
+Herself in deep riddles<br>
+Above all the Skalds<br>
+Skilful to be.<br>
+'Breaker of men's wits'<br>
+In dread and in envy,<br>
+They call her in Nordland.<br>
+To every wooer<br>
+Who fain her proud spirit<br>
+In wedlock would bind,<br>
+Tells she the same<br>
+Close sealed riddle;<br>
+For none--not the wisest--<br>
+Has ever yet solved it.<br>
+Then scornfully laughing,<br>
+With her sharp scissors,<br>
+--For so runs the statute--<br>
+To shame him, she sheareth<br>
+From the hero his hair.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">Then Halfred's temple veins swelled fearfully. He shook back
+the thick
+black locks which flowed down even to his shoulders, and drained off a
+deep drinking horn. Then he sprang from his seat, and seized the Bragi
+cup, on which vows were wont to be vowed. Once more he paused, set down
+the Bragi cup again, and asked--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;But Skald, say now, quickly,<br>
+--Oft hast thou seen her--<br>
+This men avoider.<br>
+Beautiful is she?<br>
+This breaker of men's wits,<br>
+Would the bride's wreath become her?&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Vandrad replied--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Nor soft nor gentle,<br>
+Is she, nor lovely,<br>
+But proud and stately<br>
+Stands her tall form.<br>
+Nor could another<br>
+Carry so fitly<br>
+The crown of a king.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Then Halfred again took up the Bragi cup, strode forward to
+the highest
+step which led to his seat of honour, and paused where exactly in the
+centre was burned into the oaken floor a circle, in red runes, so small
+that a man could only tread therein with one foot. Halfred kneeled
+down, planted his left foot within the circle, and lifted the Bragi cup
+in his right hand, high above his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And all were very eager to hear what he would now say; for
+this was the
+strongest, the most solemn form in which vow could be vowed. And
+Halfred said--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Ere yet the on coming<br>
+Midsummer tide<br>
+Shall sink in the sea,<br>
+Will I bring Harthild,<br>
+The daughter of Hartstein,<br>
+Here as my wife,<br>
+To dwell in my hall,<br>
+Or hold me shall Hell.</p>
+
+<p class="text2">&quot;Her wit-breaking sayings<br>
+Will I lay bare,<br>
+Her runic riddles<br>
+Will I unfold.<br>
+Unshamed, and unshaven,<br>
+These black locks shake freely.<br>
+Her man-despising<br>
+Maiden mood quelling,<br>
+My wedded wife<br>
+Will force her to be.<br>
+The breaker of men's wits<br>
+Will I break in.<br>
+A right noble heir<br>
+Of all that I own<br>
+She shall here, in my hall,<br>
+Soon cherish, my son.<br>
+And softly shall sing him<br>
+To sleep with the songs<br>
+Of his father's great deeds,<br>
+Or hold me shall Hell.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Thus ended the Yule feast, at that time; for all the guests
+started up
+from their seats with a great uproar, in a confused throng, and drank
+to Halfred, and shouted that this was the best and most admirable vow
+which in the memory of man had been vowed in the north.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the tumult was so great that Halfred had to command
+silence from
+the dais, and very soon to send round the parting cup to the uproarious
+heroes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred told me that when, under the light of the stars,
+he crossed
+the court to his dwelling-house, he repented of his vow. Not because he
+feared King Hartstein's hammer-throwing, or dreaded his daughter's
+riddle. But because it is always wiser for a man to see a maiden,
+before he determines to make her his wife.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch04" href="#div1Ref_ch04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And so soon as the Austr-Vogen was free from ice, the Singing
+Swan
+sailed towards Svearike, and through numberless perils into the great
+sea which lies to the south and east of Upland; and from thence she
+followed a river, as far as there was floating depth, upwards towards
+Tiunderland, and to Upsala.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And many will now believe that Halfred had a great struggle
+and much
+difficulty to overcome King Hartstein and his daughter, and will expect
+to hear how it came to pass.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But there is nothing to tell; for everything went easily and
+quickly
+with him, according to his wishes, which the heathen people again
+boasted had been thus arranged by Oski.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">King Hartstein was, in general, a flinty-hearted man, full of
+suspicion, and short of speech. When, however, he saw Halfred, and
+called to him as he entered his hall, and drew near to the throne, and
+asked him--&quot;Stranger, what desirest thou in Tiunderland, and of King
+Hartstein?&quot;--And when Halfred, with that smile which Oski had bestowed
+upon him, looked into the fierce eyes, and joyously replied--&quot;The best
+will I have that Tiunderland and King Hartstein possess--his daughter.&quot;
+Then the grim old man was at once won, and in his secret heart he
+wished that Halfred might be his son-in-law.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then they went out to the court for the hammer-throwing,
+and the
+King threw well, but Halfred threw far better, and thus the first trial
+was won.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Harder will thou find the second,&quot; said the old man, and led
+Halfred
+to the Skemma, the chamber of the women, where the breaker of men's
+wits, in a shining dark blue mantle, sat among her maidens, a head
+taller than any of them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And they say that when Halfred entered the chamber, and his
+glance fell
+upon her, a hot tremor passed over her, and a sudden glow dyed her
+cheeks crimson, and confused her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Certain it is that with a golden spindle, with which she had
+played
+rather than spun, she pricked her finger, and let it fall with a
+clatter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Sudha, the foremost of her maidens, the captive daughter
+of the
+King of Halogaland, who sat at her right hand, picked up the spindle,
+and held it. And many interpreted this later, as a bad omen. At the
+time, however, it was hardly observed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Vandrad the Skald said later to Halfred, that the woman
+had
+been elf-struck at the first sight of him: but he thereupon said
+earnestly--&quot;It had been better had I been elf-struck at sight of her;
+but I remained unwounded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And forthwith King Hartstein assembled all his courtiers, and
+the women
+of the castle, and the guests, in the hall, for the riddle solving.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Harthild arose from the arm chair at his right hand, and
+her face
+grew crimson as she looked at Halfred, which--as they declare--had
+never before happened to her at the challenging of her riddle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She paused for a space, looked downwards, then again upon
+Halfred, and
+now with searching and defiant eyes. And she began--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;What is held in Valhalla?<br>
+What is hidden in Hell?<br>
+What hammers in hammer?<br>
+And heads the strong helm?<br>
+What begins the host slaughter?<br>
+What closes a sigh?<br>
+And what holds in Harthild<br>
+The head and the heart?&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Then she would have seated herself, as was her wont after
+giving out
+the riddle; but struck by terror she remained standing, and grasped the
+arm of the chair; for Halfred, without any reflecting, stretched his
+right hand towards her, and spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Hast thou nothing harder,<br>
+Haughty one, hidden?<br>
+Then wreathe thy proud head<br>
+For Hymen in haste,<br>
+For what's held in Valhalla,<br>
+What's hidden in Hell,<br>
+What hammers in hammer,<br>
+And heads the strong helm,<br>
+What begins the host slaughter,<br>
+And closes a sigh,<br>
+What Harthild the haughty<br>
+The head and the heart holds,<br>
+What hovers deep hidden<br>
+In high thoughts of her heart,<br>
+And what here has Halfred<br>
+To proud Harthild holpen,<br>
+'Tis the Sacred Rune<br>
+The hero's own H.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Then Harthild sank pale with rage in her chair, and covered
+her head
+with her veil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But when Hartstein, her father, drew near amidst loud cries of
+astonishment from the listeners in the hall, and would have drawn the
+veil from her face, she sprang up vehemently, threw back the veil--and
+they saw that she had wept--and cried in a harsh voice--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;Well has thou solved<br>
+The hidden riddle.<br>
+With mighty wit<br>
+Hast won a wife,<br>
+Woe to thee if tenderly<br>
+Thou usest her not!&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">All kept silence, uneasy at these threatening unloving words.
+Halfred
+at length broke the stillness, he threw back his head, and shook his
+black locks, and laughed--&quot;I will risk that! King Hartstein, this very
+day will I pay thee the bride's dower. When prepare we the bridal
+feast?&quot;</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch05" href="#div1Ref_ch05">CHAPTER V.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">King Hartstein, however, wished for delay, until Hartvik and
+Eigil
+should have returned from a campaign. Then their reception feast and
+the marriage could be celebrated together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hartvik was the king's son, and Harthild's own brother; and
+Eigil was
+son to the king's brother, and Harthild's cousin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he would willingly have taken Harthild away as his wife,
+but she
+had said to him, &quot;If thou failest to solve my riddle, thy shorn locks
+will cause thee affliction; and if thou solvest my riddle, and I become
+thy wife, that will cause thee still deeper affliction, for no love for
+thee dwells in my heart: and woe to him who without love wins me for
+his wife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Eigil sadly gave it up, although he was a good riddle
+solver.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when Hartvik and Eigil were returned there soon grew to be
+a great
+friendship between Halfred and Hartvik, and Halfred and Eigil, and both
+loved him so well that they said they would lay down their lives for
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this between Halfred and Hartvik is no great wonder,
+because
+Halfred always won all men's hearts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But it may well astonish many that Eigil also should thus love
+him, who
+still cherished as much love to Harthild as formerly; and who yet
+clearly saw, as all who had eyes could see, that the harsh maiden was
+quite filled with love to Halfred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And jealousy does not often allow it to be admitted that the
+nightingale has a more charming voice than the carrion crow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hartvik and Egil, however, loved Halfred so dearly that they
+begged him
+to receive them as his blood brothers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And on the day before the wedding feast was prepared,
+therefore,
+Hartvik and Eigil became Halfred's blood brethren.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They stood with him, as the heathen people do, under a strip
+of turf,
+which was lifted on spear points above their heads, the two ends still
+cleaving to the ground, and they mixed the blood which flowed from
+gashes in their right arms down upon the black earth beneath their
+feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And therewith they vowed their heads for ever to the infernal
+gods if
+ever one of the blood brothers should desert the other, in danger or in
+need. And so strongly does this oath bind, that even against his own
+kith and kin, yea even against his own father, must one blood brother
+stand by the other, even until death.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch06" href="#div1Ref_ch06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">On the day after the wedding, however, Halfred rode alone into
+the pine
+wood. He said he wished to think, and he refused Harthild, who would
+have ridden with him, and also his blood brethren.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Darkly Harthild looked after him as he rode out of the court.
+But
+Sudha, the beautiful daughter of the King of Halogaland, also looked
+after him from an overhanging window, and slowly stroked her blue black
+hair back from her temples.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Vandrad the Skald, however, who often staid at Hartstein's
+Court, and
+who was there at that time, had long cherished love for Sudha. And he
+had often begged her freedom from King Hartstein, but in vain; the
+stern man had always denied him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And heretofore she had not listened unwillingly when he sang.
+But when
+in these days he drew near to her, and spoke of a song which he had
+composed in her praise, she turned away and said--&quot;On the lips of one
+only have the gods laid honey.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when in the evening Halfred returned from the pinewood
+towards the
+royal castle, he was leading his weary horse by the bridle, for the
+moon shone but fitfully through storm-rent clouds, there sat upon the
+runic-stone hard by the road a closely veiled woman, and she cried to
+him and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred Hamundson, whereof on the first day of thy marriage,
+ridest
+thou alone in the pinewood?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If thou knowest that, O wise Vala,&quot; said Halfred,
+pausing--and he
+heaved a sigh--&quot;then knowest thou more than Halfred Hamundson.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will tell thee,&quot; replied the veiled one. &quot;Thou hast sought
+a woman,
+and found what is nigher to a man, rough, harsh, and devoid of charm.
+The Singing Swan hath paired thee with the vulture's brood. Thou
+chosest the hard flint stone, near to it lay glowing at thy feet the
+rose, exhaling fragrance towards thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred sprang upon his horse, and cried to the veiled
+one--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nobler hold I it in a woman to be too cold, than too ardent.&quot;
+And he
+dashed away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And only once, as he told me, he looked back. So beautiful, he
+said,
+had she never before been, in the full light of day, as now in the
+moonlight, her black eyes glittered--for she had torn off her head
+covering--and she called after him by his name, &quot;Halfred,&quot; and her
+blue-black hair fluttered round her in the night wind like a ghostly
+veil.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch07" href="#div1Ref_ch07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And when the depth of winter was passed, and the spring was
+come,
+Halfred sent a message to Upsala, to King Hartstein, that at the
+midsummer tide Dame Harthild should bear a child.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the wise women had thrown runic rods over her seven times,
+and had
+learned each time by unerring signs that the child should be a son. And
+already was his name chosen, &quot;Sigurd Sigskaldson.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred bade the king, and Hartvik and Eigil, and Vandred
+the
+Skald, and all the people from the castle at Upsala, as many as the
+ships would hold, to be his guests at Hamund's hall, twenty nights
+before the midsummer tide.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And there, at the birth and naming of the boy, a great feast
+should be
+held, such as had never before been held in Iceland.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And King Hartstein gave answer that he and all his people, as
+many as
+twelve ships could carry, would come as bidden, to the feast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus at the beginning of the month of roses came King
+Hartstein, and
+Hartvik, and Eigil, and many hundred men from the castle at Upsala; and
+people from all parts of Tiunderland.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And among the women who came also, the first that descended
+from the
+ship was Sudha. She had begged that she might come, out of longing to
+see Harthild.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And again there was close friendship between Halfred and his
+blood-brethren, Hartvik and Eigil. They shared their table and bread
+and salt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus they waited the birth of the heir of the hall, on the
+midsummer
+day, and made ready a great feast in the Mead hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rich hangings of silken and woven stuffs which Halfred had
+borne away
+from the islands of Greece were spread upon the wooden walls of the
+drinking hall; the floor was strewn deep with rushes and clean straw,
+and the tables and benches were set out in two long rows, and one cross
+row.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On all the pillars of the walls were hung curiously interlaced
+weapons,
+which the Viking had gathered from boarded ships, stormed castles, and
+victorious battlefields. But on sideboards around were set out the many
+cups and horns of gold, silver, bronze, amber, and precious horn, which
+the Sigskald had won, by singing in the halls of kings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But straight before Halfred towered the lofty candalabrum from
+Greece,
+with its seven flaming arms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Eigil and Hartvik were to sit on his left hand, the guests
+from
+Tiunderland and the other strangers on the long benches to the right,
+the house churls and islanders on the long benches to the left of the
+dais. And the most honoured guests had even cushions for the back,
+brought from a pillared marble house which had been burnt on the coast
+of Rumaberg.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The women, however, were not to come into the hall, but to
+tarry with
+Harthild, and await her hour in the chamber of the women.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was all splendidly ordered, and Halfred himself told me
+that
+never, neither as guest nor as host, had he seen such magnificent
+festival preparations.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Two days before the feast, as Halfred, wearied with the summer
+heat,
+lay upon his couch after the mid-day meal, Sudha glided softly through
+the doorway, and stood before him, and spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text3">&quot;Halfred, skill in song, victory and fame have been thine for
+twenty years.</p>
+<p class="text3">A wife hast thou had for one year--an heir shalt thou have but now.</p>
+<p class="text3">But never hast thou known Freya's gift--Love's Fulness--</p>
+<p class="text3">Contradict me not--thine eye shuns Dame Harthild's seeking glance;</p>
+<p class="text3">And when thou dreamingly sweepest the strings of thy harp,
+thou gazest</p>
+<p class="text3">Not in Dame Harthild's cold hard face, but upwards towards
+the stars.</p>
+<p class="text3">Halfred, not in the clouds dwelleth that for which thou yearnest.</p>
+<p class="text3">Not from the stars shall it float down upon thee; upon the
+earth it wanders,</p>
+<p class="text3">It is a woman, who with love's charm, with woman's magic,
+can subdue the Singing Swan--</p>
+<p class="text3">Woe to thee if thou never findest her--</p>
+<p class="text3">What though thou win all fame with sword and harp--the
+best is still denied thee.</p>
+<p class="text3">Askest thou what maketh me so wise, and withal so daring?</p>
+<p class="text3">Love, love's fulness for thee, thou rich yet poor Sigskald.</p>
+<p class="text3">Behold, I am but a woman--a captive--but I tell thee there
+is heroism even for women.</p>
+<p class="text3">I have sworn by the infernal gods, as I crossed thy threshold,
+that here, in Iceland, I will win thy love, or die.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred arose from his couch, and spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text3">&quot;Wisdom and madness mingled hast thou spoken. There speaks
+from
+thee more than Sudha. There speaks a soul stricken of the gods.</p>
+<p class="text3">Horror and compassion seize upon me. I will demand thy
+freedom from King Hartstein. Then journey homewards to Halagoland.</p>
+<p class="text3">There mayest thou find happiness in the arms of some valiant hero.</p>
+<p class="text3">But here, let Dame Harthild's rights and hearth be sacred
+unto thee. Disturb not her happiness.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">And he seized his spear and strode out. But Sudha cried after
+him, so
+that he still heard her--&quot;Her happiness? Long has she divined her
+misery. Soon shall she clearly perceive, the haughty one, that she is
+more unspeakably wretched than Sudha.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, the evening of the same day, she called to her Vandrad
+the Skald,
+who still always cherished great love for her, to the well in the
+court, as though she would beg him to draw up for her from the depth
+the heavy water bucket. This did Vandrad later, when dying, himself
+tell Halfred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But when he had raised the bucket to the edge of the well, she
+lightly
+laid a finger on his bare arm, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Vandrad, come hither to-night, just when the star Oervandil
+is
+mirrored in this well. Thou shall tell me all that formerly came to
+pass here, about that oath on the Bragi cup.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Vandrad considered within himself, and he looked doubtingly at
+her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then she said--&quot;Vandrad, I swear to thee by <a name="div2Ref_note05" href="#div2_note05"><sup>5</sup></a>Freya's throat
+jewels
+that I will become thy wife when I leave this island. Wilt thou now
+come and tell me all?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Vandrad swore to do what she required.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch08" href="#div1Ref_ch08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And now the midsummer feast was magnificently celebrated in
+the hall.
+And there were full a thousand guests within the hall; but many
+hundreds of the servants and bondmen were camped round about the
+building, in the open air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Besides the guests from Svearike, there had come from all the
+neighbouring coasts and islands many jarl's and great chieftains. Thus
+from distant Iceland, the kings Konal, and Kiartan from Dyflin; from
+Zealand the Danish Jarl Hako, and Sveno from Lethra; then from West
+Gothaland the three brothers, Arnbiorn, Arngeir, and Arnolfr; Jarls of
+the Western Goths. There had long been a blood feud, which had been but
+newly allayed with blood money, between these three, and the two
+brothers Princes of East Gothaland, Helge and Helgrimr.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And these two, and the other three, would only come with a
+strong
+well-armed following, when they understood that their adversaries had
+also been bidden to Halfred's feast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred had taken care that the followers of the Princes
+of West
+Gothaland should be lodged to the right, and those of East Gothaland to
+the left, at the back of the hall, in huts of pinewood. And a wooden
+wall with strongly closed doors divided the two encampments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But also from other vallies of Svearik, besides Tiunderland,
+from
+Tronland, from Herjadel, Jeutland, and Helsingaland, had come many
+guests, who had often of old been enemies to the people from
+Tiunderland.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The feast, however, proceeded most joyously from daybreak even
+until the night. And when within the hall, and without, where the
+foreign servants were encamped, many fires and pine torches were
+kindled--before Halfred burned the seven armed candelabrum--it was at
+first a right jovial sun fire-feast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The men, swinging and emptying the drinking horns, sprang over
+the
+flames, and the Skalds, in songs which they composed at the moment they
+rose, vied with each other in praises of Halfred and his deeds with
+hammer and harp, and of the Singing Swan, and the hall, and the feast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And all the foreign kings also proclaimed that never had they
+seen so
+lordly a midsummer feast celebrated, neither at home, nor in the halls
+of any other host.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred sat with a joyful heart in the seat of honour. He
+signed to his
+harp-bearer to bring him his silver harp, for he wished at the last, to
+requite the laudations of the Skalds and the praises of the guests with
+thanks and a song of welcome.... And then began that catastrophe which
+was to overwhelm Halfred and his house, and the men of Tiunderland, and
+all the guests, and many other men and women, altogether strange and
+far away, who had never even seen or heard of Halfred and Harthild, in
+blood and fire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That is to say, the great door of the hall, exactly opposite
+to the
+seat of honour opened, and Dame Harthild strode in.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Haughtily erect she walked, her head thrown back. A long black
+mantle
+was wrapped around her head and neck and breast, and her whole body; it
+floated trailing after her, like the curling wave behind a ship's
+stern.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred said to one it seemed to him, then, as if the most
+fearful
+of the Fates was striding through the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Straight up the hall she passed, followed by Sudha and her
+women, her
+glance fixed upon Halfred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Slowly, silently, she ascended the six steps of the dais, and
+paused
+straight before Halfred at the table. Only the heavy candelabrum stood
+between the two.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But all the men in the hall sat speechless, and gazed up at
+the black
+woman, who looked like a dark thunder cloud.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred Hamundson,&quot; she began--and her voice was loud, yet
+toneless--&quot;Answers I demand to two questions, before these ten hundred
+hearers in thy hall. Lie not to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The blood rose to Halfred's brow, and he felt his temple veins
+throb
+heavily. &quot;If I speak or act,&quot; he said to himself, &quot;I know neither what
+I should say nor do. Therefore I will keep silence and do nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Harthild, with her left hand pressed upon her thigh,
+continued--&quot;Didst thou, in that first night, when I held thy hand firm
+upon my girdle, and asked thee if thou lovedst me, say Yes or No?
+Answer me Sigskald. I and the gods know about that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; said Halfred, and knitted his brows.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And is it true, as Vandrad the Skald has sworn, that here, in
+this
+hall, at the Yule feast, after many horns of mead, thou didst vow, as a
+wanton wager, that before the midsummer tide, thou would break in the
+breaker of men's wits like a stubborn horse, and that to make good
+these boasting words thou camest to Tiunderland, and remained, as thou
+didst lament, unwounded at sight of me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Speak the truth--lie not again--a thousand listeners hear
+thee--thou
+lordly son of Oski--Is it so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred raged in his inmost heart, but he constrained
+himself, and
+replied firmly and distinctly--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is as thou hast said.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Harthild drew herself up yet higher, and like two
+serpents
+flashed, glances of fearful hatred from her eyes, as she spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text3">&quot;So be thou accursed, from the crown of thy head to the sole
+of thy
+foot, thou who hast deceived and disgraced a hapless woman;</p>
+<p class="text3">Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;</p>
+<p class="text3">Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;</p>
+<p class="text3">Cursed be thy lying Ups--They shall wither and smile no more;</p>
+<p class="text3">Cursed be thy flattering voice--It shall be dumb;</p>
+<p class="text3">Thy house and thy hall shall perish in flames--The Singing Swan
+shall burn;</p>
+<p class="text3">Thy hand shall be crippled--thy hammer not strike--thy harp shall
+shatter;</p>
+<p class="text3">Victory shall be denied thee in battle and in song;</p>
+<p class="text3">Nothing shall any more delight thee, in which of yore thou hast
+rejoiced;</p>
+<p class="text3">The sun of spring--the flowers of the forest--the fire of wine--the
+blackbird's song--the greeting of the evening star--Sleepless shall
+roll thy groaning head, and if slumber draws near to thee it shall be
+with stifling dreams.</p>
+<p class="text3">Yet a twofold curse shall rend ye both, if thou winnest again a
+woman's love.</p>
+<p class="text3">In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than
+thy soul.</p>
+<p class="text3">But the son whom I, wretched one, must bear, shall be his mother's
+avenger upon his father.</p>
+<p class="text3">Liar's son, Scoundrel's son, Harthild's Vengeance shall his name be.</p>
+<p class="text3">And one day, villain, shall he smite thee, as here, to shame thee
+before all men, my hand now strikes thee in the face.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">And she lifted high her outspread right hand, and aimed a blow
+over the
+table at Halfred's head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred sprang up, and to avert such a disgrace threw up his
+left arm.
+Then he struck the heavy seven flaming candalabrum; with a crash the
+metal fell with all its flaming arms upon Dame Harthild's breast and
+body, and then upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As though struck by lightning stood the woman all in
+flames--mantle and
+hair blazed up. At once the fire caught the straw thickly strewn upon
+the floor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;King Hartstein, avenge thy unhappy child,&quot; shrieked Harthild,
+in
+agony. She believed that in rage Halfred had hurled the candalabrum
+upon her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The king believed the same, and whilst Halfred grasped at the
+blazing
+woman to rescue her, Kling Hartstein with a cry of &quot;Down thou
+scoundrel,&quot; struck him a sharp sword stroke on the forehead, so that he
+fell stunned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And with a second blow he would have slain him, had not Eigil
+and
+Hartvik sprung up and quickly borne away their blood brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus it came to pass that from the very outset Halfred could
+neither
+avert nor control this catastrophe--He alone could have done it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now, however, the burning woman and the flaming straw filled
+everyone
+with sudden frenzy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The people from Tiunderland rose up in fury when they saw
+their king's
+daughter fall flaming on the crackling straw; and Halfred's comrades
+drew their swords when they saw their lord fall bleeding. And flame and
+smoke, shrieks of women, and avenging shouts of men filled the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then broke loose a fighting and devastation in the hall so
+gigantic,
+say the heathen people, that the like shall never be seen again until
+the twilight of the gods, when all demons and giants, goblins and
+elves, gnomes, menkind, and pigmies, shall slay each other, and heaven,
+earth and hell shall perish in flames.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Harthild in her burning clothes, was carried out by her
+shrieking
+women. One only was missing. Sudha sprang through flames and arms to
+where Halfred lay on his blood-brethren's knees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dead,&quot; she cried; &quot;Slain by Sudha. Then share we death, if
+not life.&quot;
+And she drew Halfred's dagger from his belt, and plunged it in her own
+breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Slain Halfred! by my babbling tongue. Sudha slain!&quot; cried
+Vandrad the
+Skald. &quot;I will avenge thee, Halfred.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he tore a casting spear from the trophies hanging on the
+flame-wreathed wooden pillars, and hurled it whistling at the temples
+of King Hartstein, so that he fell dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Wildly shouted the people of Tiunderland, and their near
+kindred from
+West Gothaland, for vengeance for Harthild and King Hartstein.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the Jarl Ambiorn, from West Gothaland, seized in both
+hands a heavy
+brazen double-handled tankard, and dashed it down on Vandrad's
+forehead, so that he fell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But when the Princes from East Gothaland saw this, that their
+mortal
+foes aided the men from Upsala, then they fell, Helgi and Helgrimr,
+with furious blows upon both their old enemies, and the guests from
+Upsala.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And now could none any longer give a thought to extinguishing
+the
+blazing straw upon the floor, or the quickly burning silken and woollen
+hangings on the walls or the wooden pillars, up which tongues of flame
+were creeping.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For blindly now flew spears and axes, and golden and silver
+drinking
+horns; and many who would have striven for peace, or trodden out the
+flames, had fallen, struck down by both sides.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Must we alone stand idle among the strange guests at this
+bloody
+midsummer feast?&quot; said the Danish Jarl Hako, to the Irish King Konal,
+&quot;so that the Skalds shall taunt us as drink valiant but battle shy. We
+have an old strife about stolen horses. Let us fight it out here, thou
+Irish Greenpeak!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou drunkard of Zealand,&quot; was the answer, &quot;I will quench for
+ever thy
+thirst and thy reviling;&quot; and he struck his broad short Irish knife
+through his teeth into his throat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Sveno, his brother, fell furiously upon the Irish king,
+and their
+followers, Danes and Irish, fought by themselves their own battle in
+the forefront of the hall, and thus blocked up the door, so that no one
+could escape from the hall into the open air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And those who had no weapons tore down the trophies from the
+pillars,
+or hurled about the heavy drinking horns, and even the flaming beams
+and blocks which already fell from the ceiling, and instead of shields
+they defended themselves with the tables.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And all wildly mingled fought the people of Tiunderland and
+Iceland, of
+Westgothaland and Eastgothaland, of Zealand and Ireland. And hardly did
+anyone know who was friend or foe; and many, many men sank down,
+wounded or burnt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And at last the flames had burst through the roof, and shot
+blazing up
+towards heaven.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And as the wind from above blew down upon the swelling
+hangings on the
+walls, they flashed up suddenly in a brighter blaze.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And now the highest beam fell with a crash; and thereupon rang
+out a
+sound as though forty harp strings had all at once uttered their dying
+wail. And it was even so, for the beam had severed in twain Halfred's
+silver harp, which lay close by his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this wailing harp cry Halfred opened his eyes, and looked
+around
+him, and all the truth broke upon him. He sprang up and shouted
+threateningly through slaughter and flames--Hartvik and Eigil protected
+him with shield and sword--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hold! Peace, peace in the hall! Magic has frenzied us all!
+Quench,
+quench the fire which devours us all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so great was his power over friends and foes that for a
+moment all
+paused.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then hark! From without there thundered on the hindmost door
+of the
+hall heavy axe strokes, and the cry--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred, Halfred, save thy house! Save the Singing Swan!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a crash the door fell inwards, and new devastation was
+seen, which
+kindled afresh the momentarily smothered battle fury in the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred looked through the doorway. The house of his
+forefathers, and
+the ships in the harbour, and the Singing Swan were all wrapped in
+flames.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The followers of the princes of Westgothaland, who were lodged
+in the
+pine huts, had first heard the din of battle, and seen the flames in
+the hall. &quot;To the rescue--to the rescue of our lords,&quot; they shouted,
+tore down the wooden wall that divided them from the Mead hall, and
+hurried to their aid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But then there threw themselves upon them, to hinder them,
+their
+hostile neighbours, the followers of the princes of Eastgothaland, who
+being too weak to hold the open field, retreated partly into Halfred's
+dwelling house, partly to their ships in the Fjord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With shouts of triumph the victors followed, crowded with the
+fugitives
+into Halfred's dwelling house, and stormed the ships in the bay; and
+dwelling house and ships were suddenly wrapped in flames, either set on
+fire by the combatants, or ignited by sparks and burning splinters,
+borne by the strong south wind from the roof of the Mead hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred threw one glance at his shattered harp, and the
+burning house
+of his fathers; then he grasped his hammer firmer, and cried--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come hither to me all Halfred's comrades. Quit the hall. Save
+the
+Swan!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And with a mighty onslaught, swinging his hammer round his
+head, he
+burst through the ranks of the men who had already renewed the battle
+in the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hartvik and Eigil followed on his track, and many of his own
+people,
+and also of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But those who did not leave the drinking hall with him were
+almost all
+at once numbered with the dead. For with a heavy crash, close behind
+Halfred, fell the whole burning roof into the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred glanced back in his rapid course. High upwards shot
+the blaze,
+mingling with sound of shrieks from hundreds slain. Then all was silent
+in the midsummer feast hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred rushed on, followed by friends and foes, past his
+father's
+house. He saw the flames creeping up the pillars; within rose the din
+of raging conflict; on the threshold lay a slaughtered servant girl.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Soon Halfred and his comrades reached the bay, where the
+battle surged
+around the high-decked ships. Many were burning. Many dragon's heads
+seemed to vomit fire and smoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Around the Singing Swan, however, raged the battle most
+furiously. In
+dense masses the enemy thronged round her, wading, swimming, in boats
+and on rafts, they crowded on; others hurled spears and arrows from the
+shore at her defenders, and more than one burning arrow had struck and
+set fire to her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The left wing of the ingeniously carved Swan was on fire;
+tongues of
+fire were creeping up ropes and sails--just as Halfred arrived they
+caught the mast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then grief and fury seized upon him. His temple veins swelled
+almost to
+the size of a child's finger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Quench, quench the flames! All hands on deck! Save the Swan!
+Cut the
+anchor-cable. Put out to sea. Fight no more. I will fight for you all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His faithful followers obeyed him. The seamen left off
+fighting, and
+laboured only to quench the flames, in which also they soon succeeded,
+as no more arrows flew from the land, and the foe were forced to leave
+the ship.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For Halfred raged furiously, as none had ever seen him fight.
+With a
+loud battle-cry he sprang upon the people of Westgothaland and
+Tiunderland, and struck them down one after another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Loyally aided him Hartvik and Eigil, his blood brethren, and
+spared not
+even their own countrymen and kindred; but thought rather on the blood
+oath which bound them more closely to Halfred than to their own
+kinsmen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the foe fell back before Halfred and his comrades, from
+the open
+field into the dwelling house, which was half burned down, and
+barricaded it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus he stormed his own house, in which the people from
+Westgothaland had before overcome the house churls and the East Goths,
+and slain them all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yet a whole hour lasted the conflict. There Halfred, on the
+threshold
+of his house, slew the Danish Jarl Sveno, the last chieftain of the
+enemy who still lived, and pressed into the house with his men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The people from Westgothaland, Zealand, and Tiunderland,
+defended
+themselves like bears at bay. But at last they were all slain. And from
+thence Halfred returned to the Mead hall, which was still glowing, and
+searched who there still lived.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But there, also, all were dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And they found the bodies of King Hartstein, and Sudha, and of
+the Dane
+Hako, and the two Irishmen, Konal and Kiartan, of the Eastgothic
+Prince Helge--Helgrimr had fallen on board ship--and of Arngeir and
+Arnbiorn--Arnolfr had been slain in the dwelling house--and they found
+Vandrad the Skald at the point of death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he told Halfred how Sudha had prevailed upon him to
+speak, and
+begged him to forgive him the death of so many heroes. And Halfred held
+his hand until he was dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Dame Harthild's body they did not find, although many of
+her women
+lay burnt or slain in the dwelling-house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But many bodies were so burnt and charred they could not be
+recognised.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then they turned their search to the ships.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And all the ships of the foreign guests were burnt, and all
+those of
+the Icelanders which lay in the bay. For at the last, by reason of
+Halfred's furious attack, no one had thought any more about
+extinguishing them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred, with his trumpet, hailed the Singing Swan, which
+floated
+saved in the moonlight, and went on board with his little troop.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And there lay slain many hundreds of Halfred's Icelanders,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The foreign guests, however, who had come to the midsummer
+feast, lay
+all all dead, save only Hartvik and Eigil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred counted when he called all hands before the mast
+still
+seventy men alive.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All the rest had fallen in that one midsummer night. And there
+fell
+after that wild tumult an awful stillness upon land and sea. And sad
+and silent floated the Singing Swan, with scorched sails, upon the
+Fjord.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch09" href="#div1Ref_ch09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And Halfred has sunk into deep deep silence. Since the fight
+had ended,
+and he had heard Vandrad's dying words, he had not spoken a word.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But when it was full daylight the Singing Swan drew near the
+land, and
+the men came ashore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Silently Halfred signed to his sailing comrades to carry out
+all the
+bodies from the drinking hall, the dwelling-house, and the ships; and
+to collect them altogether on the shore. He had seven funeral piles
+erected, and upon these all the dead were burned with their weapons.
+The ashes, however, of friends and foes Halfred ordered them to mingle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And these he poured himself into a great stone-lined grave
+which he had
+had dug on the shore, hard by the water line. And he had earth heaped
+thickly upon them, and a huge black block of stone which had once been
+thrown out of Hekla rolled thereon. And this cost many days work.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Halfred spoke not. And all through the nights he sat upon
+the grave
+and looked now upwards to the stars of the summer night, now downwards
+rigidly upon the earth, and the stone grave. And gently gently he
+oftimes shook his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he spoke no word.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when after seven nights the sun arose, Hartvik and Eigil
+drew near
+to him, as he sat upon the stone, and then Hartvik spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Halfred, my blood brother, a great calamity has befallen to
+thee, to
+me, to us. Father and sister and many friends have I lost, and Eigil
+has also lost many who were dear to him. We must bear it, all three.
+Come, Halfred, Sigskald, arouse thyself! This silence and brooding is
+evil. Dwelling-house and Mead hall the fire has burnt--the axe will
+build them up. Harps, there are many still upon the earth, and the
+Singing Swan spreads out her hardly singed pinions. Come, Halfred,
+drink! Here I have brought thee from the Greek spoils of the Singing
+Swan a cup of Chios wine, which thou ever lovedst. Drink, speak, and
+live!&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Halfred stood up with a sigh, took the cup from Hartvik's
+hand, and
+poured the wine slowly upon the grave; the earth drank it greedily in.</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Come hither again about midnight. Then will I give ye an
+answer. I
+cannot even yet think clearly. Once more will I ask the gods who dwell
+in the stars if they even yet deny me an answer.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">And he sat down again upon the stone, and covered his face
+with his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when about midnight the two came, Halfred pointed towards
+the
+heavens--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;There are so many thousand thousand stars, but they are all
+dumb to
+me.</p>
+<p class="text1">Unceasingly, for seven days and nights, have I asked myself, and
+asked the stars, wherefore have the Gods allowed this awful thing to
+happen?</p>
+<p class="text1">Is it a crime that I vowed a vow, such as many which are vowed in
+the north?</p>
+<p class="text1">Hundreds of women had heard it without resentment.</p>
+<p class="text1">Is it my crime that Dame Harthild was differently minded?</p>
+<p class="text1">And it was no lie that I bore love to her, on that night.</p>
+<p class="text1">Love's fulness truly it was not--as Sudha named it.</p>
+<p class="text1">That may be. Never knew I love's fulness.</p>
+<p class="text1">And be it so. If the Gods hate me for an evil deed, wherefore do
+they not punish me alone?</p>
+<p class="text1">Wherefore let others--so many others--suffer and atone for <i>my</i> sin?</p>
+<p class="text1">Wherefore should King Hartstein perish, and many other princes,
+and thousands of men from all coasts and islands?</p>
+<p class="text1">Wherefore should Dame Harthild perish, whom they would have
+avenged, and our unborn son?</p>
+<p class="text1">How have all these sinned? Answer me, ye two, if ye know more than
+do I and the stars?&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">But his blood brethren were silent, and Halfred continued--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Yet there must be Gods!</p>
+<p class="text1">Who has else bound the giants, calmed the sea, levelled the earth,
+arched the heavens, and strewn the stars? Who else guides the battle?
+and how, after death, come mighty heroes to Valhalla, and the evil to
+the dark serpent hell?</p>
+<p class="text1">For that awful fearful thought which already from afar has come
+darkly into my mind, that perhaps no Gods live! I will think it no
+more.</p>
+<p class="text1">There must be Gods. I cannot cannot think otherwise, and my
+throbbing brain is driven to frenzy.</p>
+<p class="text1">And if there are Gods, they must be also good, and wise, and
+mighty, and just.</p>
+<p class="text1">Else it would be indeed yet more frightful to think that beings,
+mightier and wiser than mankind, delighted in the misery of men,
+like an evil urchin who for sport impales a captured beetle.</p>
+<p class="text1">This, therefore, one dare not think,--neither, indeed,--that
+there are no Gods, or that there are evil Gods.</p>
+<p class="text1">And therefore will I in devout submission endure this awful calamity,
+waiting till, in the course of years, I guess this riddle also. So hard
+an one was never yet set before me.</p>
+<p class="text1">But ye, ye faithful ones, who stood by me to the death, and spared
+not your own kindred, and have lost your nearest through me; ye will I
+never forsake, all my life long; and great gratitude will I bear ye, and my dearest shall ye be for evermore. For ye alone will I live.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Then spake Hartvik--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Not thus must thou speak, Halfred. The harp thou shalt again
+strike
+victoriously, the hammer shalt thou again joyously wield under the blue
+heavens of Greece. The blood of the vine shalt thou quaff, and a woman
+more enchanting than----&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">Then Halfred sprang up from the black stone--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Silence, Hartvik: Thou blasphemest.</p>
+<p class="text1">Who is stricken so heavily as I, by the hatred of the Gods, who
+live and are just, he stands as a lightning-blasted tree by the way.
+Birds sing not upon it, the dew moistens it not, the sun kisses it
+not.</p>
+<p class="text1">How should I sing and laugh, drink and kiss, through whom hath
+fallen upon so many thousand men and women utter destruction, or the
+sorrow of death for evermore?</p>
+<p class="text1">No, otherwise have I vowed to myself.</p>
+<p class="text1">Long did I doubt if I still could live, after such a calamity as
+the Gods have laid upon this head, and I could not, did I not believe
+in good Gods, and tarry for the solving of this riddle.</p>
+<p class="text1">But joy and happiness have no more part in Halfred Hamundson. I
+renounce them for ever.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="continue">And he kneeled down, and took from his breast pouch a leathern
+bottle,
+which was filled with white ashes. And slowly he strewed them all over
+his long flowing black locks, and his face, and breast, and body.</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Hear me, ye good all ruling Gods, and ye glittering all
+seeing
+stars of heaven; and of men-kind upon earth, Hartvik and Eigil, my
+blood brethren!</p>
+<p class="text1">Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I have
+drawn down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and
+strangers, I renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and
+the love of women.</p>
+<p class="text1">To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here
+cover myself upon their grave mound, do I belong; and among the
+living, to my faithful blood brethren.</p>
+<p class="text1">And if I break this solemnly sworn vow, then be Dame Harthild's
+curse wholly fulfilled.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">And the stars and his friends in silence heard his vow.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch10" href="#div1Ref_ch10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And Halfred kept his word.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Year after year passed away--he told me he no longer knew how
+often.
+Meanwhile midsummer returned--and Halfred lived a life which was as a
+living death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hartvik and Eigil commanded the Singing Swan, and ruled their
+sailing
+comrades. They chose the design, the port, and the course of their
+voyages. Halfred without word, wish, or choice, let everything be.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Only, when the south wind grew too strong for Hartvik's hand,
+Halfred
+strode silently to the helm, and steered until the sea was calm again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Also, when Vikings attacked the ship, Halfred had forbidden
+that the
+Singing Swan, either by sea or land, should do harm to any--and the
+danger became overwhelming, Halfred silently--he raised the battle cry
+no more--grasped his hammer, and dashed among the enemy until they gave
+way.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he wielded his hammer only with his left hand--his shield
+he had
+laid aside--and neither with helmet nor mail did he protect his head
+and breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And throughout the whole year he wore the garment which on
+that
+midsummer night smoke, flame and blood had darkly dyed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the Singing Swan drew near the land--the black flame
+marks on the
+wings none were allowed to efface--and Hartvik and Eigil and the
+sailors went to the halls of kings, Halfred stayed lying upon deck, and
+kept guard over the ship.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he drank only water out of a cup of the bitter
+juniperwood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Eigil brought once, from a king's halls where the Sigskald of
+yore had
+often been a guest, a splendid golden harp, which the queen, in
+greeting to her old friend, had sent as a present.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But as the ship turned out of the bay the harp, with a light
+rush,
+glided into the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And once Halfred lay at midsummer in Iceland, on the shore by
+the black
+stone--for every midsummer night he spent alone there, his friends must
+remain on the ship--and looked very very sad. For his face had grown
+very pale.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then there came a woman, and a wonderfully beautiful maiden,
+who was
+her daughter, and stood before him; and he turned away his face, but
+the mother spoke--</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;I know thee, even yet, Halfred Sigskald. I can never forget
+thy face,
+although the smile of Oski no longer plays thereon, and though the
+furrows on thy brow are deeply scored as with a plough. This maiden
+dids't thou, fifteen years ago, lay in my arms a sleeping child. See
+how beautiful she has become, as no other in all Iceland. And this
+wreath of summer flowers has she twined for thee. Set it upon thy pale
+brow, and thou shalt be healed, for gratitude has woven it.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred sprang up, took the wreath from the beautiful
+blushing
+maiden's hand, lifted with mighty force the huge block upwards, threw
+the wreath under it, and let the black stone fall heavily in its place
+again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The mother and maiden, weeping, departed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And during these years Halfred spoke hardly to any, save
+Hartvik and
+Eigil, and to them only when he must.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And what he said was weak and mournful.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And his voice had become very low.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he was very kind to everyone, above all to those below
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And often in the night the sailors heard him sigh, and turn
+himself
+upon the straw bed upon the deck, where always, even in the cold
+winter, he lay under the stars.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And they heard him often speak when there was no one at hand
+with whom
+he could talk.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And at table he rested his head upon his left hand, and kept
+his eyes
+cast downwards, or looked into the far far distance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he almost never complained, only he often shook his head
+gently,
+and pressed very very often his left hand upon his breast, and said
+many times--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The fresh air of heaven shuns me. I cannot breathe. If I will
+breathe
+I must sigh. My heart is almost crushed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Hartvik and Eigil said one to the other--&quot;He is ill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And once, when they sailed to Greece, Hartvik secretly called
+a
+physician--they are very skilful there--and the physician watched
+Halfred many days and nights, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is a heavy malady under which this poor man suffers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And many have already quietly died of it, or sunk into
+madness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We call it 'Melancholy.'&quot;</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch11" href="#div1Ref_ch11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And the Singing Swan sailed again into the western seas, in
+the late
+spring and early summer, at the time which the Latins call &quot;Mensus
+Madius.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And because of the long voyage the provisions were exhausted,
+and the
+ship also needed rest and repairing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred's blood brethren said to him, when they came into
+the
+waters of the island of Hibernia--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Both men and stores need caring for: we will land at King
+Thorul's sea
+castle, and provide all that we need on board. Far famed is King
+Thorul's hall; there they have great skill on the harp. Come with us to
+the city; rejoice thy heart in human fellowship, for there thou cans't
+not, as heretofore, lie upon the ship. Even to the Singing Swan will
+many people come, workmen and traders, and thou wouldst not be alone
+under thy stars. Shall we not steer for the green island?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred nodded, and Hartvik joyfully turned the helm sharp
+to the
+west.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When, however, they saw the towers of Thorul's hall rise from
+the waves
+in the morning light, Halfred, with his own hand, lowered the smaller
+boat, which lay fastened on the deck near the helm, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;When ye have rejoiced yourselves at King Thorurs court, and
+have
+provided for the ship, seek me, after twenty nights, on yonder small
+rocky island.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he took arrow, and bow, and fishing hook, sprang into the
+boat, and
+rowed to the island.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But, the Singing Swan sailed further to the west.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred landed upon the small rocky island; he found a
+fitting bay,
+and drew his boat high up upon the white sand of the shore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then there came floating to him on the air something which
+was
+strange and yet well known to him. Only under the golden stars of
+Greece and Rome had he ever heretofore enjoyed the intoxication of such
+fragrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There is, that is to say, a flower of the delicate hue of a
+maiden's
+cheek, &quot;Rosa&quot; the Latins call it, and its fragrance is as the kiss of
+pure maiden lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this flower had the Roman heroes, so long as they were
+powerful in
+these western lands, carefully tended in their houses and gardens. Long
+since, however, had the Roman heroes vanished, their stately dwellings
+were abandoned and ruined, their gardens grown wild.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And wild also had grown the maiden tinted flower which they
+call Rosa,
+and had spread all over the island, and flourished luxuriantly
+everywhere, and breathed forth a strong intoxicating perfume.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On these small islands which lie round about the great western
+island
+of Hibernia, the air is always mild; the snow seldom there remains
+lying on the land, and only slightly, and for a short time are the
+streams frozen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the singing birds which elsewhere retreat before the
+frost, rest
+for the winter in these retreats, where meadows, shrubs, and trees,
+remain green even in the severest seasons. For it rains often there,
+and moist is the breath of the billows rolling around.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the heathen people, therefore, call these islands
+&quot;Baldur's
+Islands,&quot; for Baldur they name the God of the spring dawning.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And as Halfred climbed up the hill from the shore, all the
+underwood
+and sweet-springing thorns were in full bloom; white thorn and red
+thorn and black thorn and the wild roses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And also the many splendid fruit trees which the Roman heroes
+had
+brought with them from the south and the east, were in full bloom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And from every shrub and tree resounded the sweet tones of the
+grey
+brown singing bird, which the Latins call &quot;Luscinia,&quot; the Greeks
+&quot;Philomela,&quot; but we, the &quot;Nightingale.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred strode upwards and inland, by the side of a clear
+rapid
+stream, which flowed over white pebbles, through light green copsewood.
+On the height he came to a transparent copse of alders, young beeches,
+and slender white birches. There lovely broad-winged butterflies
+flitted over the beautiful flowers in the sunny glades. Deep in the
+thicket sang the thrush. The tops and pliant boughs of the birches
+nodded and waved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then there came to him, borne on the morning wind, yet
+other sounds
+than the song of the nightingale, far clearer and softer, as from the
+lightly-touched strings of a harp; but which sounded far more beautiful
+than any harp playing, either of his own or any other Skald, which he
+had ever heard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And from high above, as if from heaven, the tones appeared to
+come.
+Halfred followed the sounds, which powerfully moved and allured him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No sound since the last dying shriek of his harp had reached
+his soul
+through his ears. These harp tones aroused his soul. He believed that
+elves or Bragi, the song God, were harping in the air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He wished not to scare the singer, but to listen. Softly he
+passed on,
+choosing his steps; the wood-grass betrayed him not, for it was soft,
+long, and thick.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had now come quite near to the sound, yet still he saw not
+the
+singer. Cautiously he parted the thick white thorn bushes, and
+perceived then a small green mound, upon which stood in a circle six
+beeches. But the seventh, the tallest, stood in the centre, and towered
+above them all; and around its trunk wound an ornamental staircase made
+of white wood; and made of the same white wood there was a slight
+platform fitted in where the broad branches of the beech spread
+themselves out. The railing of both staircase and platform was
+ingeniously carved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From this airy bower floated down the wonderful tones.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred drew nearer, and spied through the branches and the
+crevices of
+the platform. His heart throbbed high with amazement, awe, and
+yearning.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There he saw the player.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the railing leaned a boy who was wonderfully beautiful, so
+beautiful, Halfred said to me, that never had he seen such beauty upon
+earth--so beautiful as the elves must be, in which the heathen people
+believe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was altogether white--his slender face was white as the
+stone which
+the Greeks call &quot;Alabaster;&quot; the folded garment which reached from his
+neck to his knees was white, and white were the leathern shoes upon his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the eyes and hair of the boy were like gold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred said to me that the eyes were the golden brown of
+the
+eagle's eyes. In the shining hair, however, which a net of the same
+colour confined, instead of a hat, played hither and thither, bright
+sun-tinted gleams, as though a sunbeam had lost itself therein, and now
+vainly sought to find an outlet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the boy played upon a small three-sided stringed
+instrument, such
+as only the Skalds of Hibernia carry, and played a wholly unknown
+melody.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he played and sang so beautifully, that Halfred had never
+yet heard
+such playing and singing; mournful and yet blissful at the same time,
+was the melody, like the pain of yearning, which yet for no pleasure of
+the earth would the heart resign.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred told me that for the first time since that
+midsummer night
+a warm breath passed again over his soul.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the beautiful boy in the airy bower enchained his eyes,
+and the
+mournful yearning song entranced his soul.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And for the first time, for many, many years, his breast could
+heave
+with a full drawn breath.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And tears filled his eyes, and restored and healed him, and
+made him
+young once more, like cool dew upon the heath after a burning sun.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And at the close of every two lines the words of the song rang
+harmoniously together, like--and yet again not altogether entirely
+like--as though two voices sought each other in sound and echo.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Or as when man and woman, one and yet two, are folded together
+in a
+kiss.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The boy sang in the soft lisping Irish language, which Halfred
+well
+knew. But that closing concord had he never heard, and it resounded far
+more pleasingly upon the ear than did the dead consonant staves of the
+Skalds.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this was the boy's song,--</p>
+<div class="quote">
+<p class="text2">&quot;On light slender branches blowing<br>
+White rose yearns through May's young bloom--<br>
+Sun God, 'tis for thee I'm glowing,<br>
+When wilt thou, thy bright face showing,<br>
+Quaff full deep my fresh perfume?<br>
+When wilt thou, for ardour sighing,<br>
+Greet my flowers in trembling bliss?<br>
+Come, and must I rue thee dying,<br>
+Leave within my chalice lying,<br>
+Fiery sweet, thy fervid kiss.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Here closed the boy's song and playing with a clear resounding
+chord on
+the strings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And as soon as he ceased, and had hung his harp on the boughs,
+lo!
+there came flying from the nearest shrub two snow-white doves, which
+lighted one on the right, the other on the left shoulder of the boy,
+who smiling stroked their heads, and slowly, thoughtfully, with
+stately, and yet almost timed step, came down the white wooden stairs,
+and stood upon the beautiful flowery turf of the greenwood glade.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred dreaded that he might terrify the gentle harper if he
+stepped
+suddenly out of the thicket before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Therefore he called to him first, from a distance, in a soft
+voice,
+slowly drawing nearer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hail, gentle boy! If thou art mortal, may the Gods be
+gracious to
+thee. If thou art thyself a God, or as I surmise one of the light
+elves, then be not ungracious to me, a mortal man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then the boy turned slowly towards him, without seeming to be
+terrified, or even surprised, and as Halfred now drew nearer, he said
+in a melodious vibrating voice--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Welcome, Halfred. Art thou come at last? I have tarried long
+for
+thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he offered him both hands; the glance of the golden eyes
+sinking
+deep into Halfred's soul.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred, however, dared not to touch those hands. He felt,
+from the
+very depths of his being, a quickening warmth uprise, and send rippling
+through body and soul a quiver of delight--of joy in surpassing
+beauty--but also of holy awe, as in the presence of gods or spirits;
+for he had no longer any doubt that it was no earthly being who stood
+before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Voice and breath almost failed him as he asked--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who hath proclaimed to thee Halfred's coming, and name!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The moonlight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then art thou indeed, as I had already perceived, the prince
+of the
+light elves, to whom moon and stars speak words. Be gracious to me, O
+loveliest of the Gods.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then the boy smiled. &quot;I am a child of earth, like thyself,
+Halfred.
+Draw nearer. Take my hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But who art thou, if thou art mortal!&quot; asked Halfred, still
+hesitating.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thoril, King Thorul's orphan grandchild.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And wherefore dwellest thou here alone, on this small island,
+as
+though hidden, and not in King Thorul's hall?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He dreamed thrice that danger threatened me, in the month
+when the
+wild roses blow; a strange ship which should come into his harbour
+would carry me away, never to be seen again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To render me quite safe against this danger he sent me here
+to this
+small outlying island, at which, because of its circling cliffs, no
+ship can land. Only Moëngal, his ancient armour-bearer, and his wife,
+my foster-mother, are with me; yonder, in that small wooden house,
+behind the beech mound, we live. But so long as the dear lord shines,
+and the gay butterflies flit over the flowers, I tarry here in hidden
+airy bower.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But, thou wonderful boy, if thou art really a child of earth,
+how
+could the moon reveal to thee my coming and my name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I sleep not in the moonlight, because it entices me out and
+upwards.
+It lifts me by force from my couch, and upwards to itself. With closed
+eyes, they say, I wander then away on the narrowest ridges of the roof;
+and far away, through forest and mountain, I see what shall happen in
+the future, and the distance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Carefully they guarded me, therefore, in the king's hall. But
+here, the
+clear moon looks freely through the rifts in our cottage roof.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I saw, seven nights ago, a ship, with a swan on the prow,
+that drew
+nearer and nearer. On the deck lay sleepless a dark-bearded man, with a
+noble countenance. 'Halfred,' his two friends called him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And ever nearer floated the sailing Swan. But when, one
+cloudy night,
+the moon shone not upon my pillow, and my eyes could not see the ship,
+and the man, then yearning seized upon me for that noble countenance.
+And I laid my pillow and my head, since then, ever carefully under the
+full flood of the moonlight. And night after night I gazed again on
+that lofty forehead and these palid temples.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But still more beautiful and lordly art thou, than thy dream
+picture;
+and never have I seen a man to equal thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But thou,&quot; cried Halfred, seizing both the singer's hands,
+&quot;art like
+Baldur in spring beauty, gentle boy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Never have I seen such perfect charm in youth or in maiden.
+Like
+sunshine upon chilled limbs, like Chios wine through parched throat,
+flows thy beauty through my eyes deep into my soul. Thou art as the
+blackbird's song and the wood flowers: as the evening star in golden
+clouds; thou art as the most wonderful song which ever resounded from
+the lips of a Skald; thyself, as thou livest and movest, thou art pure
+poetry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;O Thoril, golden boy, how gentle thou art! how thou hast
+quickened my
+grief-worn heart. O Thoril, leave me never again!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take up once more thy magic harp; uplift once more that sweet
+song,
+which has awakened my soul from the sleep of death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;O come, let me lay my heavy head upon thy knee, and gaze in
+thy sunny
+wondrous face, while thou tunest thy harp, and playest and singest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus they both did.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And trustfully flew one of the doves from Thoril's hand to
+Halfred's
+broad shoulder, and cooed lovingly to the other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when the song was ended, Halfred seized again the two
+hands of the
+boy, and drew them slowly slowly over his forehead, and his moist eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And it all was as it stands written in the sacred books of the
+Jews, of
+the King full of sadness and heaviness, who could only be healed by the
+harp-playing of the son of Jesse.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch12" href="#div1Ref_ch12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And this lasted many days; and upon Halfred's forehead the
+lines and
+furrows disappeared, one after another. And once more he could draw a
+deep full breath without sighing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he carried his head again proudly erect, when he did not
+purposely
+bend down to look into the golden eyes of the boy, which ever again and
+again he did.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so much did Halfred dread to lose Thoril again, that he
+never left
+his side the live-long day. And because Thoril's couch and sleeping
+chamber were, as he said, so small that Halfred could not share them,
+he lay before the door upon the threshold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nevertheless he still could not sleep; but now, because with
+ardent
+yearning he listened to the breathing of the sleeper. And with the
+earliest dawn of morning he would rouse Thoril from sleep and his
+sleeping chamber.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And it seemed as if the old gift of Oski was given back to
+Halfred,
+the winning of all hearts. For the two guardians of the boy, who
+full of mistrust had seen the strange man approach their cottage,
+holding Thoril's hand--the ancient Moëngal had rushed at him with a
+spear--were at once gentle and won, when he begged, with the old smile
+of Oski--&quot;Let me be healed at Thoril's golden eyes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But on the thirtieth day--the time when the Singing Swan
+should come
+for him was long passed, but Halfred thought not of that--the two went
+out with hooks and lines to catch fish. For Moëngal's provisions were
+exhausted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the midst of the island lay a dark lake, surrounded by
+steep high
+cliffs. But from the lake a streamlet flowed to the open sea. In a
+small boat they could row upon this lake, and down the streamlet to the
+sea. And there were many splendid fish called silver salmon in the
+lake, and in the stream, and even down in the salt sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred and Thoril rowed over the lake the whole morning,
+and laid
+ground hooks and nets.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when, towards mid-day, the heat burned more and more
+fiercely down
+upon them, Halfred said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come away from this shadeless depth. There above, on the
+cliff, I see
+falling the glittering spray of a silver rill--amidst alders, amidst
+wild roses it springs. There above, it is cool and shady. Easily shall
+we find a grotto in the rock. I long for that fresh spring water. And
+there above, to the left, nod dark sweet berries--they quench the
+thirst, and young boys love them. Let us climb up. I will gladly aid
+thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And slowly they climbed the steep face of the cliff. Thoril
+now aided,
+now followed by Halfred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then there floated to them, half-way up to the fountain, a
+strong
+perfume from a hollow linden tree, like wine, but it was wild honey
+which the wood-bees had gathered there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Thoril dipped his forefinger deep in the bright thick
+mixture, and
+laid it upon Halfred's lips, and smiled at him, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take it. It is very sweet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And most enchanting he looked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred exclaimed--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Such honey, so say the people, the Gods have laid upon my
+lips. Try if
+it is true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he suddenly clapped Thoril's head, which was bent down
+towards him,
+with both hands, and kissed him on his full lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then both started asunder. A burning glow shot through
+Halfred's frame.
+But Thoril turned away his face, quivering slightly, and rapidly
+climbed up the cliff.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred paused, and drew a deep breath--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he followed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;See, Thoril,&quot; cried Halfred halting, &quot;this cavern, hollowed
+by the
+elves in the rock. The thick thorn bushes, with the perfumed red
+flowers, almost hide the entrance; and see there, how the brown
+nightingale on her nest guards the small doorway, and how the honey
+bees swarm around. Here will we stop and rest as we descend, when we
+have drunk above.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Thoril made no answer, and climbed more quickly upwards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They had still some fifty paces to climb upwards to the edge
+of the
+cliff whence the spring water fell in silver spray. Halfred was
+surprised that henceforward the boy went steadily on, turning his back
+to him, and if he sought to aid him in climbing, held on his course
+without looking round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Fiercely beat the noontide down upon the cliff; all around was
+deep
+silence; only blue flies darted buzzing through the sunshine, and from
+high in the heavens sounded often the shrill cries of soaring falcons,
+which with outspread pinions circled over their heads.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They had now mounted so high that far away over the small
+island they
+could see, on three sides, beneath and around them, the blue sea
+appear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the sea encircled the blooming island with its dark
+steel-blue arm,
+like a mail-clad hero a blooming women.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But from the far west drew near a white sail.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At last they had reached the height. Thoril stood above, hard
+by the
+waterfall, where scarcely could a pair of human feet find standing room
+upon the wet slippery crumbling stone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Beneath him, some five feet lower, Halfred halted, and looked
+towards
+him. &quot;Give me to drink, I am parched with thirst,&quot; he cried to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Thoril drew from his fishing pouch a curved, silvery
+shining,
+mother of pearl shell. He raised himself on tiptoe, filled the shell to
+the brim, and turned to reach it down to Halfred. Then his foot slipped
+on the polished stone, vainly he tried to save himself, spreading out
+his arms on the bare rock wall. Halfred saw him falling downwards,
+straight upon himself, and opened wide his strong arms to receive the
+light burden. But lo!--a miracle. In the rapid fall the buckle broke
+which fastened over the breast Thoril's white linen garment; wide
+outspreading, down over the shoulders, fell the garment; at the same
+moment fell the net which confined the golden hair--a rich flood of
+waving tresses spread themselves over the shining neck and swelling
+breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A woman art thou? a maiden?&quot; shouted Halfred exultingly.
+&quot;Thanks to
+ye, O stars. Yes; this is Love's fullness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the beautiful maiden hid her glowing cheeks in Halfred's
+neck.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a few strides he bore his light burden down to the grotto
+they had
+passed in climbing, and bending the branches of the rose bushes aside
+placed her safely within its shelter. The nightingale, which there sat
+singing on her nest, flew only to a short distance; and then returned
+and sang and warbled unceasingly. And the bees flew humming among the
+wild roses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when the crimson glow of the evening sun shone over the
+island
+Halfred and Thoril descended the cliff. And now the girl's face was
+infinitely more beautiful than of yore. She wore her hair no longer in
+the net, but waving freely, so that like a mantle spun of threads of
+sunny gold it covered her from her throat to her knees. And instead of
+the lost buckle a small spray of the thorn bush, with a full blown
+rose, fastened her garment over the breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus, hand in hand, they descended to the lake, and then Thora
+took
+from the boat her three-sided harp, and thus they wandered down by the
+streamlet which flowed from the lake to the sea, and on to the bay,
+towards the west.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the ship, which from the west had held her course towards
+the
+island, was the Singing Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There, at a short distance, she now lay at anchor in the bay;
+her sails
+shining brightly in the evening light. And the ship's boat glided over
+the water towards the shore, to bring Halfred and the smaller boat,
+rowed by Hartvik and Eigil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the blood brethren sprang on shore, and marvelled greatly,
+when
+they saw Halfred stand there, hand in hand with a wonderfully beautiful
+woman. Silently their glances questioned him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Halfred spoke, twining his arms round the slender girl--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This is Thora the golden-eyed. King Thorul's daughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She was hidden from me here, and clad in boy's clothing that
+I might
+not find her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nevertheless I have found her, according to the course of the
+stars and
+the will of the Gods--Love her as myself--for she is my wife.&quot;</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch13" href="#div1Ref_ch13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And now it was very wonderful to see what a wholly different
+man
+Halfred had became since he had won Thora.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He threw off his tattered clothing, and clad himself in the
+most costly
+royal raiment of scarlet and rich gold, which lay stored away as a
+special treasure among the spoils of the Singing Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He quaffed the sparkling Chios wine from a silver cup, and
+eagerly
+pledged Thora in Freya's love.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He played often upon her harp, and sang new songs far more
+beautiful
+and ardent, and moving according to a melody which he invented, and
+called &quot;Thora's melody.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And his youth seemed to be given back to him, for the deep
+furrows
+vanished from his forehead, his eyes, which had always been cast down,
+as though he revolved the past, or his own thoughts, now looked
+brightly upwards again, and around his lips again played joyously the
+smile of Oski.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he stirred not night or day from his young wife's side;
+and was
+never weary of stroking her long golden hair, or looking deep into her
+golden joyfully glistening eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But in the night he often held her high aloft in his arms, and
+silently
+showed her to the silent stars.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he had himself seized the helm, to turn the Singing Swan
+towards
+the south, for he said, &quot;Thora shall see the islands of the blest, in
+the blue Grecian waters, where marble statues, white and slender as
+herself, look out from among evergreen laurels.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the flame marks on the Swan's wings were effaced, and mast
+and
+spars must always be wreathed with flowers, for Thora loved flowers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the young wife had eyes for Halfred alone. She spoke but
+few words;
+but with sweet smiles she often whispered--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, verily, thou art the Son of Heaven. Mortal men, such as
+I have
+often seen in my father's hall, could never be at once so strong and so
+gentle. Thou art like the sea a furious irresistible God, and withal a
+lovely dreaming child.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when she glided across the ship, all in snow white
+garments, and
+with her golden flowing hair, the men on the rowing benches sat with
+oars suspended, and Hartvik, at the helm, forgot to guide the ship's
+course, and followed her steps with wondering eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when they drew near to land, and the people saw her
+hovering on the
+wings of the Singing Swan--where she loved to stand--they brought
+offerings of flowers, for they believed that Frigg, or Freya, had
+sailed in to visit them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred told me that she grew more beautiful from day to
+day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And in this wise passed four times seven nights.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred was so infatuated and absorbed in Thora, that he
+did not in
+the least observe what was brewing among the sailors, or how his blood
+brethren, who held themselves aloof from him, whispered together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He heard once, as he remembered afterwards that Hartvik
+whispered to
+Eigil, &quot;No I tell thee. He will never do it himself, or by free will.
+Therefore the physician must by force burn out the wound from the
+sufferer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He neither noticed nor understood these words. But soon
+afterwards he
+understood them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One clear moonlight night Halfred and Thora had already sought
+their
+couch in their chamber between the decks, from whence a small gangway
+and flight of steps led upwards, and Thora had fallen asleep. Ere
+Halfred fell asleep however, it seemed to him as though he detected
+that the Singing Swan was, very slowly certainly, but perceptibly
+turning. She groaned, as though resisting the pressure of the helm; and
+he thought that he heard, through the open gangway, the sound of many
+steps upon the deck, and of whispering voices, and now and again of
+weapons clashing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Instinctively he glanced towards the head of the couch; where
+his
+hammer hung, guarding his bride's pillow. The loop was empty. The
+hammer was missing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Quickly, but lightly, so as not to wake the sleeper, he sprang
+up the
+narrow stairs. He was just in time. Hartvik and Eigil were in the act
+to close the small trap door, which fastened over the gangway with a
+bolt, and thus confine the pair between decks. There, now, stood
+Halfred, his right foot on the deck, his left on the highest step.
+Hartvik and Eigil started up, and drew back a pace. Hartvik was leaning
+upon Halfred's hammer. The ship's crew stood armed in a half circle
+behind him. The helm also was surrounded by armed men, and had been
+turned. The ship no longer sailed towards the south-east, but held west
+north-west, and the sails were half-reefed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What do ye here my blood brethren?&quot; said Halfred, softly--for
+he
+thought of Thora--and was more amazed than angry. &quot;Are ye mad, or have
+ye grown faithless.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a while all were silent, startled at Halfred's sudden
+appearance,
+whom they had believed to be sleeping soundly by Thora's side. But
+Hartvik recovered and spoke--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is not we who are mad, or have grown faithless, but thou,
+our
+unhappy brother, under magic spell. We would have accomplished what
+must be done without it being possible for thee to hinder it. Thou
+shouldst only have trodden the deck again, when, against thine own
+will, thou wert restored to health.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, however, since thou hast too soon learnt this, hear what
+we, thy
+blood brethren and the most of those on board, assembled in ship's
+council, last night resolved--resolved for thy weal, although many
+opposed it, and would first have spoken with thee. Submit thyself
+peaceably, for it is unalterable as the course of the stars, and
+although thou art very strong, Halfred Hamundson, bethink thee, thou
+art weaponless, and we are seventy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred was silent. Fearfully swelled his temple veins; but he
+thought
+of Thora. &quot;She sleeps,&quot; he whispered. &quot;Say softly what ye have to say.
+I listen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred, our dear blood brother,&quot; continued Hartvik softly.
+&quot;Thou
+liest spell bound in the toils of a woman who--I will verily not revile
+her, for I love her more ardently than my own heart's blood--whatever
+she may be, a mortal woman undoubtedly is not.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here works one of the strongest spells which ever witchcraft
+wove, and
+ever befooled the senses of men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I blame her not as do many of our comrades.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She can do no otherwise. This is her very nature.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is in truth an Elfin woman, or what the Irish call their
+white half
+Goddesses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In the old Sagas it is told that there are such magic women,
+who,
+whether they will or not, wherever they come, bewitch the eyes and
+hearts of all men. In Herjadal lived such an one, seventy years ago,
+and there was no peace in the land until they had hung a mill stone
+about her neck, and sunk her where the Fjord is deepest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That this woman is no mortal woman can any one see who only
+looks once
+in her white face, through which all the veins shine blue, and in the
+selfish glittering golden eyes. This alone were enough, without that
+which many among us have seen; how, lately, when the moon was full, she
+rose unperceived from thy side, and floated up upon deck and with
+closed eyes danced up and down upon the slightest wing feathers of the
+Singing Swan, like an elf in the moon rays. And when the moon went
+behind a cloud she glided just as lightly down to thee.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But this is the smallest part of her magic.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not thee alone has her beauty ensnared. She hath so crazed
+all the
+ship's crew that they forget work and duty to gaze after her as she
+floats along.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, even among us, blood friends, hath she kindled frightful
+sinister
+thoughts against thee, and against each other. I, who care not for
+women, and Eigil, who never thought of any woman save my burnt sister,
+we have lately by night confessed to each other that this silent white
+elf woman hath so fearfully crazed our senses, that each of us has
+already wished thy death, yes, would even have contrived it, in order
+to win this golden haired enchantress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And when we confessed these same thoughts to each other, we
+were filled
+with shame.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yet nevertheless each of us has plotted the death of the
+other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There must be an end of this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This slender sorceress shall not make men murderers in their
+thoughts,
+who have stood together through fire and blood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We will not throw her overboard, as many of the crew in
+superstitious
+terror advise. Where would be the use? She would swim like a sea bird
+on the tops of the waves. But we will bear her back to the lonely
+island, where no eye of man can see her, and where no doubt wise gods
+had banished her. We would all possess her, and none shall have what
+each covets.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Frightfully throbbed the veins in Halfred's temples, in his
+rage. &quot;The
+first,&quot; he said, quite softly, through his gnashing teeth, &quot;the first
+who lifts a hand, ay even a look towards her, I will tear his false
+heart from his living body.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so frightfully threatening was his face to behold that
+Hartvik and
+all the armed men drew back a couple of paces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Eigil stepped forward again, and spoke in a louder voice
+than
+Hartvik had used.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred, give way. We have sworn it. We will compel thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ye compel me!&quot; cried Halfred, also now in a louder voice.
+&quot;Murder and
+revolt on board the Singing Swan! What saith the Viking code? Like a
+dog shall he hang by the neck at the mast head who secretly stirs up
+disobedience to the ship's lord.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To the ship's lord, yes, when madness crazes him not,&quot;
+shouted Eigil
+again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Darest thou to speak of rights, Halfred Hamundson?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Only because madness and magic excuse thee, have we not long
+since
+asserted our rights against thee: thou, who every word and bond of
+right hast broken. We demand our rights. But thou hast no right to that
+woman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hast thou forgotten, Perjurer, that bloodstained midsummer
+night on
+Hamunds Fjord? Of that, in truth, thou hast not spoken, since, like a
+love sick boy, thou hast doted on this slender sorceress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou hast forgotten it, but the seamen who sail by yonder
+spot, they
+see with horror the huge black Heckla Stone which there hides an awful
+catastrophe, and covers a fearful curse. But huge and heavy as it is,
+it cannot bury it. Demanding vengeance the shades of many thousand dead
+arise, who lie there, through thy crime, and with whom thou hast broken
+faith and oath.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For how did'st thou swear in that night?</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I
+have drawn
+down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and strangers, I
+renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and the love of women.
+To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here cover
+myself on their grave mound, do I belong, and among the living to my
+faithful blood-brethren. And if I break this solemnly-sworn vow, then
+be Dame Harthild's curse wholly fulfilled.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">&quot;But thou carest no more for Gods or men, no more for us thy
+blood-brethren, who stood by thee to the death; who kept faith with
+thee against our own kindred; who defended thy head against King
+Hartstein's sword when thou layest defenceless as a child upon our
+knees; who for thee have slain our nearest kindred; for thee have given
+up sister and beloved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Her also, whose voluptuous lips have kissed forgetfulness
+upon thy
+forehead, even her also has thy selfishness forgotten; for thou wilt
+bring destruction upon her, as surely as the Gods hear curses, and
+chastise perjury.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doubtless thou hast never told the white armed enchantress
+what a
+fearful curse thou, with each kiss, art drawing down nearer and nearer
+upon her head.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Silence, Raven,&quot; cried Halfred, threateningly, paling with
+rage and
+dread.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Eigil continued, &quot;Who knows if the golden eyes would not
+turn
+shuddering from thee did she know that upon thy head rests the curse of
+the wedded wife, burned through thee--of thy unborn murdered son. And
+thou hast exposed her as well as thyself to the fearful sentence--it
+will be fulfilled, for unerring is such deadly hate:</p>
+<div class="quote1">
+<p class="text1">&quot;'Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;</p>
+
+<p class="text1">&quot;'Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;</p>
+
+<p class="text1">&quot;'Cursed be thy lying lips--They shall wither and smile no
+more;</p>
+
+<p class="text1">&quot;'Yet a twofold curse shall rend thee both, if thou winnest
+again a
+woman's love.</p>
+
+<p class="text1">&quot;'In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest
+more than
+thy soul.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p class="normal">Here sounded a faint soul-harrowing moan from the open
+gangway.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou here!&quot; cried Eigil, and paused.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred turned. There behind him stood Thora, not white as in
+general,
+but with crimson glowing head, like a poppy, her eyes gazing wildly
+upwards towards the moon and stars. Suddenly she uplifted both arms on
+high, as though to avert from Halfred's head some fearful stroke from
+the clouds. Then, once more, a faint but heart piercing moan, and she
+fell forwards upon her face, like a crushed flower. Blood flowed from
+her mouth. Halfred would have quickly raised her, but lifeless lay the
+slight form on his arms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dead,&quot; cried Halfred, &quot;murdered! And ye have murdered her!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He let slip the ice-cold form, wrenched with one tremendous
+spring
+forwards his hammer from Hartvik, and swinging it on high, with one
+stroke of his arm brought it crashing down upon the heads of both his
+blood-brethren, so that brains, blood, and fragments of skulls were
+scattered all around.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With that deed began a slaughter on board the Singing Swan
+like that of
+the midsummer night; only it was much shorter, because there were fewer
+to slay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It seemed to Halfred as though his temple veins had burst. He
+felt,
+instead of brains, only boiling blood in his head; he tasted blood in
+his mouth, he saw only red blood before his eyes. Without choosing,
+without asking who was for or against him, he sprang into the thickest
+of the crowd of armed men, seized man after man by the throat with his
+left hand, and shattered their skulls with the broad side of his
+hammer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He did not in the least perceive that a handful of men stood
+by him. He
+did not notice the many wounds he received on arms, face, and hands, in
+close combat with his despairing foes. He raged on and slew, until all
+whom he could see before him lay dead and silent upon the deck. Then he
+turned, still brandishing his hammer, and shouted--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who besides Halfred still breathes on this accursed ship?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he saw that some six men of those who had aided him
+kneeled behind
+him. They had formed, with their shields, a half circle round Thora's
+body, and had turned off many a spear which would have reached the form
+of the white sorceress. Halfred perceived this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stand up,&quot; he said, with his left arm wiping away the blood
+and sweat
+from his forehead, and the white foam from his lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He thrust the blood stained hammer into his belt, and kneeled
+beside
+Thora, pillowing on his breast her face, which had become whiter than
+ever before.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was too much to bear and to hear at once. The frightful
+hailstones
+of this curse have struck the white rose too heavily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then she opened her eyes, and murmured, &quot;Not for me, only for
+thee,
+have the horrors of this curse overwhelmed me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She lives! she lives! Praise to you, ye gracious Gods,&quot;
+exulted
+Halfred, &quot;It could not be that she should die for the crimes of others.
+She must be healed, as surely as the Gods live. Had Thora perished for
+mine, for other men's guilt; with this hammer must I have slain all the
+Gods.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And tenderly and softly, as a mother a sick child, the mighty
+man
+raised his young wife in both arms, and bore her, treading softly, down
+the steps.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But once more before she left the deck, Thora opened her eyes.
+She saw
+Halfred stained all over with blood. She recognised, by their armour
+and clothing, the bodies of Hartvik and Eigil, with frightfully
+shattered heads. She saw the whole deck strewn with dead. She saw that
+only very few of the ship's crew were left, and shuddering, shrinking,
+she closed her eyes again.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch14" href="#div1Ref_ch14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">But Halfred kneeled day and night beside her couch. He held
+her languid
+hand; he listened to her faint breathing; he kissed from her lips the
+small drops of blood which often gathered there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had the board which closed the gangway between the decks
+taken away,
+and heaven and the stars shone down upon Thora's pillow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the day had gone ill, and much blood had flowed, and she
+fell
+asleep with the falling night, then he would mount a few steps, draw
+his hammer from his belt, and threaten the stars with furious words.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If ye let her die for others' guilt, then woe to you, ye
+Gods, woe to
+all who live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But had the sufferer gained strength, and smiled lovingly and
+peacefully on him; then this same ferocious man mounted upon the deck,
+kneeled down, and cried with outstretched arms, and tear-choked voice,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Praise, praise, to you, ye gracious Gods! I knew it, verily,
+that ye
+live and rule justly, and would not let her die for others' guilt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And if the day wavered between good and evil, between fear and
+hope,
+then he paced the narrow chamber with hasty steps and murmured
+inaudibly,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Are there Gods! are there Gods! are there gracious Gods?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he believed that Thora heard this not, because she slept.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But she lay often awake, with closed eyes, and understood it
+all, and
+it troubled her sorely, in waking and dreaming.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred now told her, at her mute request, all about Dame
+Harthild,
+and the curse, and how all had happened.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he had ended she murmured shuddering, &quot;Much has been
+fulfilled! If
+yet more should be fulfilled, unhappy Halfred.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It seemed, however, that Thora was better.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred resolved at once to carry her upon deck, that she
+might
+breathe the fresh air, and again behold the beauty of sea and heaven.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he had the deck carefully cleansed from all traces of the
+horrible
+fight, and ordered the sailors, the day before, to run into a coast
+which was bright with summer flowers, and commanded a whole mountain of
+flowers, as he said, to be piled upon the ship, for he would have her
+laid upon a hill of flowers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the men obeyed; and the whole deck was so thickly strewn
+with
+flowers that nowhere was a bit of wood visible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And close by the mast rose a swelling couch of perfumed light
+wood-grass, and all the loveliest wood flowers, so high that it reached
+to Halfred's breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Over this he spread a rich white linen mantle, and laid the
+heavily
+breathing form upon it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And again the moon was full, as on that night of the battle on
+the
+ship. But many storm-rent clouds were still driving across the heavens,
+and the sailing disk of the moon had not pierced through them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And it was midsummer night. The first that Halfred had not
+spent by the
+black Heckla Stone in Iceland.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thora had fallen asleep upon her flowers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred had covered her with his own mantle. And he sat close
+by the
+flower hill, and looked into the noble, pale, all bloodless face, and
+then quietly before him again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ye have done all things well, ye merciful dwellers in the
+stars above.
+Ye have requited me, for that I never altogether doubted ye. I will not
+again question with ye, wherefore ye have ordained for me this second
+fearful thing, that I should be forced to slay my dear blood-brethren,
+and so many of the ship's crew.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because ye have saved this wonderful flower, and have not
+suffered her
+guiltless, to perish for other's guilt, for ever will I bless ye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And a song of praise will I compose for you, ye merciful and
+gracious
+Gods; such as never yet has resounded to your praise. Thanks to you, ye
+gracious Gods!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus musing he fell asleep; for it was many many nights
+since he
+had slept.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then a piercing cry awoke him, which seemed to ring from the
+stars.
+&quot;Halfred.&quot; It fell upon his ear from high above.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He started up from slumber, and looked upwards. There he saw
+what
+filled him with horror. The full moon had, while he slept, pierced the
+clouds, and shone with full radiance upon Thora's face. Now Halfred saw
+her, standing swaying, high on the slender cross-spars, many many feet
+above his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Like a white ghost she shone in the moonlight; her widely
+opened eyes
+looked out into her future; her right hand she stretched, as though
+warding off, into the night. She did not hold fast by the slender
+towering mast, on whose giddying height naught else save the seabird,
+tossing, rested. And yet she stood firmly erect; but in her face was
+despairing woe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;O Halfred,&quot; she wailed, in a low tone of heart-rending
+anguish, &quot;O
+Halfred--how distracted thy looks--how fearfully tangled hair and
+beard! Ah! how thine eye rolls--and half naked--like a Berseker, in
+shaggy wolf's skin. And how stained thou art with the blood of
+guiltless men. And why threatenest thou the fair-haired shepherd the
+light-hearted boy? Beware--beware the sling--guard thyself--turn thy
+head--the swing whistles--the stone flies--O Halfred--thine eye.&quot; And
+bending far forward she stretched, as though she would protect, both
+arms into the air. Now she must fall--so it seemed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fall not, Thora!&quot; cried Halfred upwards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, as though lightning struck, swift as an arrow, with a
+wild
+shriek, she fell downwards from the giddy height of the mast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The white forehead struck upon the deck, her head and golden
+hair were
+bathed in blood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thora! Thora!&quot; cried Halfred, and raised her up, and looked
+into
+her eyes. Then he fell senseless with her upon his face among the
+flowers--for she was dead.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch15" href="#div1Ref_ch15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">When Halfred raised himself again--he had already long since
+recovered
+consciousness, but not the power to rise--the sun was fast going down.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He called the six seamen, who had held themselves shyly aloof
+in the
+stern and lower deck, and spoke, but his voice, he himself told me,
+sounded strange to him like that of another person.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is dead. Slain for the sins of others.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are no Gods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Were there Gods I must have dashed out the brains of all of
+them, one
+by one, with this hammer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The whole world, heaven and sea, and hell, I must have burned
+with
+consuming fire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nothing should any longer be, since Thora no longer is.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The world can I not destroy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But the ships, and all that is upon it, I will burn--a great
+funereal
+pile for Thora.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do as I say to ye.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he embedded with gentle hands, the dead Thora in the
+flower mound,
+so that almost nothing of her form and clothing were to be seen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And by his orders the six men were obliged to bring upon deck
+all the
+weapons, treasures, clothing, and provisions, which were stored in the
+hold of the Singing Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred heaped them around the mast upon the flower mound,
+and
+purple clothing, linen cloth, silken stuff, golden vessels, and soft
+cushions, he piled up all round about.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he poured ship's tar over all, and covered it with
+withered
+brushwood, and dry chips from the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he ordered all sail to be set--a strong warm south wind
+was
+blowing--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he mounted upon the upper deck, and overlooked all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he nodded his head, well satisfied. And then he descended
+to the
+kitchen, to bring up a burning brand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he came up again he found that the sailors had lowered
+the two
+ship's boats, the larger and the smaller boat, they lay tossing by the
+boat ropes, to the right and left of the Singing Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hasten, my lord,&quot; cried one of the seamen to him; &quot;so soon as
+thou
+hast thrown the torch, to spring into a boat; for rapidly, in this
+gale, will the Singing Swan flame up, and easily might the fire seize
+the boats, and cause both thee and all of us to perish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred looked with staring eyes at the man &quot;Would ye still
+live, after
+ye have seen this?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Think ye that I will live without Thora? after the guiltless
+for
+other's,--for my crime,--hath died?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, with me shall ye all on this ship burn--truly a worthless
+funeral
+pile for Thora.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou shalt not destroy us, guiltless. Forbid it, Gods!&quot; cried
+the man,
+and sprang upon Halfred, to wrest the firebrand from him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But with a fearful blow of his fist Halfred struck him down
+upon the
+deck.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Laughing shrilly, he shouted, &quot;Gods! Who dare still to believe
+in Gods,
+when Thora, guiltless, has died?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are no Gods, I tell ye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Were there Gods, I must have slain them all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I will slay, as my deadly enemy, whosoever declares that
+he still
+believes in Gods.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Furiously he brandished the firebrand in his left hand, the
+hammer in
+his right, and cried to the trembling sailors--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Choose--If ye believe that there are Gods, then I will strike
+ye down
+like this too forward comrade.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But if ye renounce the Gods, then may ye live, and depart,
+and bear
+witness everywhere that there are no Gods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Are there Gods?&quot; shouted the maniac, drawing near to the
+trembling
+men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, my lord; there are no Gods,&quot; cried the men, and fell upon
+their
+knees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then go--and leave me alone to my own will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Quickly the seamen descended into the larger boat on the left.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred, however, stuck the hammer in his belt, and strode
+with rapid
+steps hither and thither upon the deck, and set fire to mast and sail,
+and purple clothing and carved work, and to the neck of the Swan on the
+prow-wailing, the wind passed once more through the curved wings of the
+Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The strong south wind fanned the crackling flames; quickly was
+the
+ship, on all sides, wrapped in a glowing blaze. The sails streamed like
+fiery wings from the mast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Silently, with folded arms, Halfred sat upon the upper deck,
+his eyes
+rigidly fixed upon the flower mound.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Swift as an arrow flew the burning ship before the wind. The
+fire had
+rapidly consumed the dried wood grass, and Thora's form and face were
+fully visible. Then Halfred saw how the scorching flames seized upon
+Thora's long floating golden hair. &quot;That was the last thing,&quot; he said
+to me, &quot;that I saw for a long time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In unutterable anguish he sprang up, and rushed all along the
+burning
+ship, straight through the flames, to Thora, He sprang upon the flower
+mound to embrace the body.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he felt a frightful blow upon his head, and left eye. The
+half
+burned mast had fallen with a crash upon him; he was dashed upon his
+face among the flowers and the flames, and darkness closed over him.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch16" href="#div1Ref_ch16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">When Halfred again awoke he lay in the bottom of a small boat,
+which
+drove over the open sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His hammer lay at his right hand. A cruise of water stood at
+his left
+hand. Two oars were in the stem of the boat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred started up to look around him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then he perceived that he could only see with difficulty what
+was on
+his left side. He felt for his left eye, and found a bleeding cavity. A
+splinter of the mast had struck it out, and a stabbing pain beat
+through his brain, which he said never again left him as long as he
+lived.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He looked at his body. In charred rags his burnt clothing hung
+upon
+him. Far in the distance he saw a craft which he recognized as the
+larger boat of the Singing Swan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Singing Swan herself had disappeared; but away to the
+south there
+lay a cloud of vapour and smoke over the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The boat in which Halfred stood he recognised as the smaller
+boat of
+the Singing Swan. Evidently his sailing comrades had dragged the
+half-burned maniac from the burning ship, and saved him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They had abandoned him to the Gods whom he had blasphemed, and
+in whom
+they believed, to be saved by them, or perish. But no more fellowship
+would they have with a man stricken by the heaviest of curses--madness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For mad Halfred was, from the hour when he sprang into the
+flames, and
+the mast struck him, until shortly before his death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Therefore could he only tell me very little of all that in the
+meantime
+happened either to, or through him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But what he did tell me, here I faithfully write down.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But many many years must he have wandered in madness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He told me, moreover, that he saw only before his eyes how
+Thora fell
+from the mast; and how the flames seized her head and hair. And that he
+could only think one single thought. &quot;There are no Gods. Were there
+Gods I must have slain them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So must I slay all human beings who believe in Gods; for
+blotted out
+from the earth shall be the name and remembrance of the Gods.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he could not die until he had slain the last man who still
+believed
+in the Gods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus he journeyed all about, everywhere, in his small
+ship; landed
+in bays and upon islands, lived upon game which he hunted, or upon
+domestic animals which he found in the fields, upon roots and wild
+berries from the woods, upon eggs of sea-birds, and mussels from the
+rocks.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And often the storm waves broke high over his boat, and
+shattered her
+planks. But she sank not, nor was he drowned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And one day he saw he was wholly naked, the last charred rags
+had
+fallen from him. He was chilled, and when he met a wolf in the wood, he
+ran after him so long that he overtook him, slew him with his hammer,
+took off his skin, and hung it round his loins.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus he roamed and sailed, half naked, all about the
+north. And
+none recognised in the maniac Berseker, Halfred Sigskald, the son of
+Oski.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he told me that when he chanced upon mankind, whither they
+were
+many or few, he sprang upon them, and shouted to them his question.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Are there Gods?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And if they said &quot;Yes,&quot; or as the most did, gave him no
+answer, then he
+slew them all with his hammer. But if they said &quot;No,&quot; as also many
+did--for it was already rumoured throughout the whole north, that a
+naked giant wandered through all lands with this question, whom the
+people called &quot;God destroyer&quot;--or if they took to flight, then he let
+them live.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And often, from dread, the peasants and the women gave him
+fruit,
+bread, milk, and other food. Many however bound themselves in a league
+to go out and slay him, as a wild beast. But they could not stand
+before the fury and strength of the maniac. He killed the bold, the
+timorous fled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He slept hardly at all at night, therefore they could not
+surprise him
+in his sleep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Once, when he spent the night in the bam of a peasant, who had
+previously renounced the Gods, with all his household, the people from
+the court barricaded the straw-filled bam, and set fire to it. But
+Halfred burst through the roof, dashed through the flames and arrows,
+which could not pierce his body, and slew them all with his hammer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And this maniac wandering endured many years.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And sea storms, and burning suns, and autumn frosts, and
+winter ice,
+beat upon Halfred's half-naked body.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And his hair and beard stood out like a mane around him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But no longer dark, as when of yore he trod, as a wooer. King
+Harstein's courts--but snow white. In a single night--the night when
+Thora died--his hair had become white.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch17" href="#div1Ref_ch17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">And after many years he came sailing in his rotten boat over
+the seas
+which play around the island of Caledonia. He landed, seized his
+hammer, and strode upwards to a steep rocky hill, on which sheep and
+goats were grazing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was early morning, in the time when roses begin to bloom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mist floated over the sea, and upon the cliffs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Halfred saw the shepherd standing above, on the cliff's
+edge; and
+he played a lovely melody upon his shepherd's pipe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And at first he doubted whether he should ask this shepherd
+boy his
+question about the Gods, for he left women and boys unquestioned. And
+this shepherd seemed to him but a boy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But as he climbed nearer to him he saw that the shepherd
+carried a
+spear, and a shepherd's sling, with which to kill wolves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the shepherd lad believed that this was a robber or a
+Berseker
+coming against him and his sheep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he chose out of his leather pouch a sharp heavy stone, and
+laid it
+in his sling, and held it ready to cast it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Halfred held his left hand over the eye that remained to him,
+and
+looked upward with difficulty, dazzled, for just then the sun broke out
+through the mist clouds exactly above the head of the shepherd, who
+thus saw clearly the figure of the half naked man, with tangled
+floating hair and beard, who now raising the hammer threateningly
+ascended the hill. Upon a slab of stone, under a great ash tree, he
+stopped, and cried to the shepherd--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Are there Gods, shepherd boy? Sayest thou yes, then thou must
+die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Gods, there are not,&quot; replied the shepherd, in a clear voice,
+&quot;but
+wise men have taught me there lives one Almighty Triune God, Creator of
+Heaven and Earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man with the hammer paused for a moment as if meditating.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such an answer had he never received.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Soon, however, he sprang threateningly upwards again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Preventing him, however, the shepherd swung his sling;
+whirring flew
+the sharp stone; it was a sharp hard three-edged flint stone--I had
+carefully reserved it for some great peril--and alas! alas--woe is me,
+only too truly did it strike. Without a sound Halfred fell, where he
+stood, on his back under the ash tree, himself like to a suddenly
+felled tree.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a few bounds the shepherd reached the prostrate form,
+cautiously
+holding his spear before him, lest the enemy should suddenly spring up
+again. For it might be that he only artfully feigned to be wounded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he drew nearer, however, he saw that it was no deceit, but
+rather
+evident truth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Blood streamed over the fallen man's right cheek, and in the
+cavity of
+the right eye stuck the sharp flint stone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But pity mingled with dread seized upon the shepherd, as he
+gazed in
+the fearful mighty face of the man who lay mute at his feet. Never
+before had he seen so splendid a face; at once so noble, and so sad.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And superstitious fear overcame him, if it might not be the
+chief of
+the heathen gods, Odhin, the one-eyed, who in the semblance of this
+wanderer with the white beard had appeared to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But soon he felt yet deeper sympathy and compassion, for the
+wounded
+man in a weak voice began:--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whosoever thou mayest be, who hast cast this stone, receive
+the
+thanks, O shepherd boy, of a world and woe weary man. Thou hast taken
+from me the light of the second eye also. I need no longer to see
+men-kind and the heavens. Neither of them have I understood for a long
+time. And soon shall I pass to where questions are no more asked, and
+curses no more cursed. I thank thee, whosoever thou mayest be. Thou
+hast of all living beings--save one--done the best for Halfred
+Hamundson.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then with a loud cry I threw my spear on one side, fell upon
+my knees,
+embraced the pale bleeding head, and cried:--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halfred, Halfred, my father, forgive, forgive me!--I am the
+murderer--
+and thy son--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now ye who shall one day unroll this parchment--pause at this
+place,
+and look upwards to the sun, if it is day, and to the stars, if it is
+night, and ask with Halfred--&quot;Are there Gods?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For I, I, who secretly and in dread write these pages during
+the night
+hours, I am the shepherd boy, Halfred's son, who have slain him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the Gods, or the Christian God, have allowed it to come to
+pass
+that the son has blinded and murdered the father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I wept hot tears upon my dear father's pale forehead. But he
+turned his
+head, as though he would see me, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is hard that the curse must be so wholly fulfilled upon
+me, that I
+must be entirely blinded before death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fain would I have looked closely into thy face, my dear son.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now I know not if the golden cloud I saw spread about thy
+head was thy
+hair or the sun rays.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou seemedst to me fair to look upon, my boy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But tell me, how do they call thee?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have they verily, at thy birth, named thee Liarson
+Scoundrelson
+Harthildsvengeance? and how did it happen that thou camest into life. I
+believed Dame Harthild burned in the dwelling house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then I laid my dear father's head upon my knees, and dried
+with the
+long yellow hair I was at that time still allowed to wear, the blood
+from his cheek, and told him all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How my mother would not be carried from the burning Mead hall
+back into
+the dwelling house, but rather on to one of the ships of her father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How from thence, when the battle and the flames threatened
+dwelling
+house and ships, she was borne by her women and the sailors into a
+boat, and therein rowed out upon the Fjord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How in the boat she had forthwith given birth to a son, but
+died
+herself; and ere she died had laid her hand upon my head, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not Liarson--not Scoundrelson--not Harthildsvengeance shall
+he be
+named--no; Fridgifa Sigskaldson.&quot;<a name="div2Ref_note06" href="#div2_note06"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She was right in that,&quot; said Halfred. &quot;Thou hast aided the
+Sigskald to
+peace at last.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how after she was dead the fearful battle and burning on
+shore
+scared the sailors and women still further out to sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how the small boat was almost sunk by the fury of a storm
+from the
+west, and all the bondmen and women were washed overboard by the waves,
+save one rower, and a bond maiden, who hid the infant under the stern
+seat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how, at last, Christian priests, who were sailing out to
+convert
+the heathen people, picked up the half starved wanderers, and brought
+all three hither, to the island of the holy Columban; and cleansed both
+the two, and the infant, with the water of baptism.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how the two, my foster parents, told me all that they knew
+about my
+father, and mother, up to the time of the burning of the Mead hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how the two were never weary of lauding to me my father's
+glory in
+battle and song.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how the monks of Saint Columban, as I grew, would have me
+taught to
+read and write; but I loved far better to go out with the hunters and
+shepherds of the monastery, and liked to draw targets on the parchment
+leaves for my little cross-bow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how, at length, they declared me unfit for books, when
+with my
+small bolt I had pierced through and through a costly picture which on
+the gold ground of a thumb broad margin represented the whole of the
+Passion, and promoted me with a sound thrashing to be herd boy of the
+monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how for many years, since my foster parents were dead, I
+had kept
+the sheep of the monastery; and my sole pleasure therein had been in
+fighting with the bears, the wolves, and the eagles, that attacked the
+lambs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Or in playing upon my shepherd's pipe, or in listening to the
+roar of
+the sea and the forest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Halfred laid my head upon his broad breast, and folded
+both his
+arms around it, and laid his hand upon it, and was still and silent for
+a long time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I brought him water to drink from the fountain, and milk
+from my
+flock; and would have drawn the stone from the wound, but he said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Leave it, my dear son--the end draws near.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I feel the band taken away from my brain, which for many
+many
+years has pressed upon it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And all becomes clear and bright to my thoughts. I can see
+inwardly
+again how all has been, now that I can no longer see outward things.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And for thee, and for myself, before I die, I will set forth
+clearly
+and exactly how all has been. Give me once again milk from thy flock to
+drink.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I gave him to drink, and he laid his head again upon my
+knee, and
+began to tell me, quite clearly and distinctly, all that had come to
+pass since that midsummer night.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And from his lips have I learned all, onward from that
+midsummer night,
+which in the earlier pages of this book I have written out. And much
+have I also learned from him, of those earlier times of which my foster
+parents could know nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I have kept it all in faithful remembrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And as the evening fell he came to the end of his account, and
+he said,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lay my face so that once more the sun shall shine upon it.
+Fain would
+I feel the dear Lord once again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I did as he commanded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he breathed deeply, and said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It must certainly be spring. A perfume of wild roses floats
+to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I told him that he lay under a blooming rose-bush.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then a blackbird raised his sweet song from the bush.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thus I hear once more the blackbird's evening song,&quot; said
+Halfred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now farewell all. Sun and sea, forest and stars of heaven,
+wild rose
+perfume, and songs of birds; and farewell to thee, my dear son. I thank
+thee that thou hast released me from madness, and an evil life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I can, to requite thee, as all my heritage, leave thee only
+this
+hammer. Guard it faithfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whether there be Gods--I know not. Methinks that men can
+never search
+it out. But I tell thee, my son, whether Gods live or not, hammer
+throwing, and harp playing, and sunshine, and the kiss of woman, these
+are the rewards of life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Mayest thou win a wife who is but a faint reflection of
+Thora.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then hail to thee, my son!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bury me here, where mingles the roar of the forest and the
+sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Farewell my dear son. Dame Harthild's curse thou hast turned
+for me
+into a blessing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he died.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The blackbird ceased singing in the bush. And as the sun sank,
+one warm
+full flood of his rays streamed full upon that mighty face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus died the son of Oski.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch18" href="#div1Ref_ch18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">When now my dear father was dead, whom I myself had slain, I
+wept
+bitterly, and lay all night by the side of the dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And when the sun again arose I considered what I should now
+do.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first I thought I would drive the flock to the monastery,
+which lay
+some six stages distant, and relate all to the monks, and confess how I
+had, all unwittingly, slain my own father; and beg for absolution for
+myself, and for a Christian grave for my dear father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But I bethought me that the monks would not bury my father
+with
+Christian honours, since he had died a heathen. And neither would they
+allow me to burn him, after the custom of the heathen people, because
+the heathen gods would thus be brought much into remembrance. And they
+would certainly throw him, unhonoured, into the sea, as they had
+already done to a heathen from Zealand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So I resolved to be silent about it all, and not to betray my
+dear dead
+father to the priests.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus could I neither confess the death blow, nor receive
+counsel
+respecting my guiltless crime.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And from thence was the beginning of my freeing my mind from
+the monks
+and their creed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I knew, quite near, of a cavern, which was known only to
+me, for it
+had a very small entrance, and I had only discovered it because I had
+followed a stone marten which had slipped into it. A fallen block of
+stone concealed the entrance, and I found many ashes and remnants of
+bones within the spacious cavern, which opened towards the sea. In
+early days, no doubt, the heathen Scots had burnt their dead here.
+Thither I carried, not without much difficulty, my dear dead father,
+and set him upright in the cavern, his face turned towards the sea. The
+roots of the oaks and ashes which waved above the cavern, penetrated
+through the stone downwards almost to his head. Above him roared the
+forest, before him roared the sea. There did I place my dear father,
+and rolled the stone again to the entrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But even his hammer, his only possession, I dared not keep.
+Even should
+I tell the monks I had found it, or bought it from sailors--they would
+not have left it with me, for strong heathen victory runes were
+engraved on the haft.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So I laid then the hammer also close to the right hand of the
+dead.
+&quot;Guard it for me, dear father,&quot; I said, &quot;till I need it again. Then
+will I fetch it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But from that hour there came a great change over my
+disposition.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That which had most delighted me, to fight for my sheep with
+wolves,
+bears, and birds of prey--that attracted me no more.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rather the question which had driven my dear father even to
+madness, if
+there be a God, or Gods? And how it could be that such fearful things
+should come to pass as are here set down in this history, from the vow
+upon the Bragi cup, on to this great horror, that the son had slain his
+own father. These questionings seized upon me, and would not let me
+rest, any more than my dear father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And as my dear father of yore looked up to the stars, and
+implored the
+heathen Gods for enlightenment, so also did I look up to the stars for
+illumination, praying to Christ and the saints.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But to me also the heavens were dumb.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then I said to myself--&quot;Here on the sheep pastures, and from
+the roar
+of the sea, and from the light of the stars, wilt thou find no answer
+all thy life long, any more than thy dear father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But in the books of the monks, the Latin ones and those
+others, with
+the crinkled runic flourishes, lie hidden all holy and worldly wisdom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And when thou can'st read them, all will be clear to thee in
+heaven
+and upon earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so I took leave of my dear father, gathered my sheep
+together, and
+drove them to the monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Art thou gone mad, Irenæus?&quot; asked the porter, as he opened
+the door
+for me and my bleating charge, &quot;that thou drivest home before shearing
+time. They will scourge thee again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I was mad,&quot; I replied, &quot;but now I will become a scholar. Now
+another
+may scare the wolves. I will learn Greek.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus I also said to the good Abbot Aelfrik, before whom I
+was at
+once led for chastisement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lay the scourge aside. Perchance the boy, who has always been
+a
+heathenish worldly Saul, has become suddenly a Paul, through the grace
+of the holy Columban. He shall have his wish. If he holds to it--then
+it is a work of the saints. If his zeal flags, then it is a wile of
+Satan, and he shall go out again to his sheep.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But I kept silence, and said nothing about the reason for
+which I
+wished to learn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And my zeal did not flag, and I learned Latin and Greek, and
+read all
+the books that they had in the monastery, the Christian ones of the
+church fathers, which they call theology, and many heathen ones, of the
+old world wisdom, which they call philosophy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I soon perceived that often, in one church father, was
+found just
+the contrary of what was in another church father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And that Aristotle reviled Plato, and that Cicero tried to
+make sense
+of it all, and could not.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And after that I, in three, four years, had read through all
+the books
+which they had in the monastery, and had contended all night long with
+all the monks in the monastery, I knew no more of that which I wished
+to know than on the day when I had buried my dear father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old good-natured fat Abbot Aelfrik however--he was of
+noble race,
+and had formerly been a warrior at the court of the Scottish King, and
+loved me--often said to me,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Give up these searchings Fridgifa&quot;--for he willingly called
+me by my
+heathen name when we were alone. &quot;Thou must believe, not question. And
+drink often, between whiles good ale or wine, and sing a song to the
+harp&quot;--for he had taught me harp playing, in which I had great delight,
+and which he loved much, and everyone said that none could play the
+harp like me in all Scotland; &quot;and forget not either often to throw the
+lance at the target in the monastery garden. Much book reading withers
+the body.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I remembered that my dear father's last words had been
+just the
+same. And often and often I stole away to my dear father's hill,
+brought forth the hammer, exercised myself in hammer throwing by star
+light, and sat then for hours before the cavern, and listened to the
+roar of wind, wood, and wave.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And now it often seemed to me as if, in such moods, I came
+nearer to
+the truth than through all the books of the Christian priests, and
+heathen philosophers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And I almost believe I shall not stay much longer in the
+monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Especially since, lately, a skald from Halogaland visited the
+monastery, and told of the life at the court of King Harald; of his
+lordly royal hall, in which twenty skalds by turns play the harp.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how the boldest heroes ever willingly enter his service.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And how year by year his warlike expeditions are crowned with
+victory.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And of Gunnlôdh, his wonderfully beautiful golden-haired
+daughter, who
+pledges the bravest heroes and the best skalds in the horn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Since then, my inclination no longer turns towards
+psalm-singing and
+vigils.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But certainly they will not easily let me leave the monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For because I can write Latin and Greek well, Aaron, the new
+Abbot, the
+Italian, who has succeeded the good peace-loving Aelfrik, makes me
+unceasingly write out manuscripts, which they then sell for a great
+price, in Britain, and even in Germany.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Aaron is very sharp upon my track, because I seem to him
+to lack
+true Christian zeal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And did he know that upon these parchment sheets, whereupon I
+ought to
+have written out, for the seventeenth time, the treatise of Lactantius
+&quot;de mortibus persecutorum,&quot; I have, by night, written out the history
+of my dear father--it would not pass without many days' fasting, and
+some score of penitential psalms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lately he actually threatened me to have &quot;some one&quot; scourged,
+who ever
+again came too late for the Hora.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That &quot;someone&quot; was I. For I had just begun to write about the
+battle on
+the Singing Swan, and could not tear myself away from it when the Hora
+bell called.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But ere the son of Halfred the Sigskald endures scourging on
+the
+back,--rather will I slay Aaron and all his Italian monks.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But for slaying I need something different from this copying
+style.</p>
+
+<p class="space">* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus far had I written by Good Friday.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a long while could I not contrive to write further. For
+the hatred,
+jealousy, and mistrust of Aaron and his hangers-on--there are many of
+his Italian countrymen come with him from Rumaberg--grow constantly
+greater. He has forbidden me to write by night.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Only by day, and in the library, no longer in my cell, may I
+write. And
+the transcript of Lactantius I am to deliver to him on the appointed
+parchment by Whitsuntide, on pain of seven days' fasting.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My resentment increases against this priestly tyranny.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Only rarely, and by stealth, can I get at these pages. Also I
+can only
+with great difficulty reach my dear father's hill. They track my lonely
+wanderings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It will soon come to open war. At any rate I will provide
+myself with a
+sure weapon.</p>
+
+<p class="space">* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With difficulty did I, yesterday evening, in the sleeve of my
+frock,
+bring my dear father's hammer into the monastery. I have hidden it in
+the outer court, but where--that I do not trust even to these pages. I
+think much over the question of my dear father, and I believe that soon
+I shall find the truth.</p>
+
+<p class="space">* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For three days I could not write at all. The skald from King
+Harald's
+court has again been a guest in the monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I have made him tell me all about the life at that court. It
+is just as
+in my dear father's days. Certainly King Harald and all his courtiers
+are heathens, and their warlike expeditions are mostly against
+Christian kings and bishops. But that does not make me waver in my
+purpose, which is firmly resolved. He told me much about Gunnlôdh.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In twenty nights a ship of King Harald's will sail again into
+the
+harbour from...</p>
+
+<p class="space">* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I know now the answer to Halfred's question.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There are no heathen Gods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But neither is there any Christian God, who, almighty, all
+merciful,
+all wise, allowed that the father should be slain by the son.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rather, that only happens upon earth which is necessary, and
+what men
+do and do not, that must they do and not do; as the north wind must
+bring cold, the south wind warmth; and as the stone thrown must fall to
+the earth. Why must it fall? No one knows. But it must.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But men should not sigh and question and despair, rather
+rejoice in
+hammer throwing and harp playing, in sunshine and Greek wine, and in
+the beauty of women.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For that is a lie that it is a sin to long for a beautiful
+woman.
+Otherwise must the human race die out; if all become so devout as no
+more to long for a woman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the dead are dead, and no longer living.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Otherwise had the shade of my dear father long since appeared
+to me, at
+my earnest entreaty.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of what alone, however, man should believe; of that I will
+speak
+hereafter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without fear shall he live, and without hope shall he die.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In this monastery, however, will I remain no longer than----.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_ch19" href="#div1Ref_ch19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="continue">Thus far had he written, the God forsaken Brother Irenæus.
+Here fell
+the righteous judgment of Heaven upon him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I, Aaron of Perusia, called by the grace of God to feed these
+lambs of
+the holy Columban, had also the grace given to me to drive the diseased
+sheep from the flock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Long was I on the track of him and his worldly, heathenish,
+sinful,
+ungodly, yea God-blaspheming doings; his guilty conscience had rightly
+boded this. Step by step I had him watched by Italian brethren, full of
+godly zeal, without his observing it. The most pious of them, Brother
+Ignatius of Spoletum, succeeded in winning his confidence--for stupidly
+unsuspicious are they--these barbarians--through often allowing him to
+entertain him with harp playing, Irenæus begged from him one day some
+ink powder from his store, as he had used up his appointed portion, and
+from the &quot;Head of the Pharisees&quot;--thus the shameless sinner termed his
+abbot and chief shepherd--could not obtain fresh supplies, without
+delivering over what he had written with the former supply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Brother Ignatius at once, as was his pious obligation, told
+all to me,
+his abbot. But the ink powder he gave to him, with that wisdom of the
+serpent which is well pleasing to God in his priests.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Soon thereafter the sinner set out again upon one of those
+secret
+expeditions which have ever been his wont, remaining out the whole
+night when some errand had allowed him to escape from the monastery. I
+never forbade him to go out, for I hoped through one of these secret
+expeditions, most easily to discover his hidden doings. I sent, spies
+after him every time; but every time he suddenly and mysteriously
+disappeared among the wooded crags along the shore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This time I myself sent him out, and as soon as he had left
+the
+monastery court I at once made a most rigorous search through the whole
+of his cell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There at last I found, after much labour, these blasphemous
+pages,
+written very small, in his accursed graceful handwriting, and artfully
+hidden in a crevice between two stone slabs of the floor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I took the devil's work with me, and read and read, with
+growing
+horror. So much sin, so much worldliness, so much heathenish delight in
+fighting and singing, in drinking and carnal love, so much, finally, of
+doubt, of unbelief, of naked blasphemy, had, under the roof of the holy
+Columban, under my pastoral staff, grown up, and been written out!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Abhorrence seized upon me, and holy indignation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Forthwith I summoned the Italian brethren to special secret
+council and
+judgment. I pointed out to them the deadly poison of these writings,
+which indeed were full of the seven deadly sins; and the unanimous
+sentence was pronounced. First, three hundred lashes with the scourge;
+then immuring in the chastisement cell, with vinegar, water, and bread,
+until repentant contrition and the fullest amendment were made
+manifest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Impatiently we awaited the return of the accursed sinner.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With the vesper bell he entered the door of the monastery
+court.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Immediately I placed myself before the door, shot the iron
+bolt,
+and called forward the Italian brethren. The greater number, the
+Anglo-Saxons, who were well disposed towards the blasphemer, on account
+of his sinful harp playing, and lukewarm in zeal for the Lord, I had
+before collected in the refectory, and locked up until the offender
+should be secured.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hastily the Italians came, and behind them several armed
+bondmen of the
+monastery. Then, in place of all accusation, I held up these pages
+before the miserable wretch, and pronounced the agreed upon sentence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, ere we were aware, the God-detested criminal sprang with
+lightning speed to the cistern in the court, and drew forth from behind
+it a frightful horrible hammer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dear hammer of Halfred, aid his son today,&quot; he cried in a
+threatening
+voice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And the next thing was--it seemed to me as though the Heavens
+fell upon
+my head and neck--I sank upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Only after a long while did I awake again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then I lay upon my bed, a man given up, and the brethren from
+Italy
+lamented around my couch; and recounted that the furious Samson had,
+with a second blow, shattered the bolt on the door, and made his
+escape. The monastery servants, indeed, followed him, and several of
+the brethren, led by brother Ignatius. But when the fugitive suddenly
+turned, and slew the foremost of the pursuers, one of the monastery
+servants, who would have seized him, with the frightful hammer, and
+struck down brother Ignatius, severely wounded, the others gave up the
+pursuit. At once he again disappeared, as always, among the cliffs and
+woods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Never have we seen him since, although from the very day of my
+awakening I had him carefully searched for all along the coast. The
+cavern of which these accursed pages speak could we not find. I would
+have had the bones of the old heathen murderer thrown into the sea.
+Probably the son concealed himself there, until he could leave the
+island on some ship. I however, in consequence of the blow from his
+hammer, which shattered my shoulder and collar bone, on one side, have
+to suffer all my life long from a hideous twist of the neck, which is
+exceedingly prejudicial to the dignity of an abbot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This sinful book of abominations however, I sent to Rome, to
+the holy
+Bishop, with the question, whether we should burn it, or preserve it,
+to aid in tracing and convicting the escaped monk, should we succeed in
+capturing him again?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a long long time came no answer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But after many many years the book came back from Rome, with
+the
+command to keep it--only the blasphemous passages therein were
+erased--and as a warning example to others, was the Abbot of St.
+Columban to append to these pages an account from an accompanying
+letter of the Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg, of how dreadful a fate
+had, through the righteous judgments of God, ended this apostate's
+sinful life of the highest earthly enjoyment; which he--this may
+console us--will doubtless have to expiate in the eternal torments of
+hell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From the Archbishop's letter it appeared there could be no
+doubt that
+our perjured Brother, Irenæus, is none other than one who, in all the
+courts of the north, has been for many years celebrated as a warrior
+and singer, and crowned with all earthly fame and happiness, Jarl
+Sigurd Halfredson; who appeared suddenly at the court of King Harald of
+Halogaland--none knew whence he came--with one of the skalds of the
+King, and through hammer throwing, and harp playing, soon won for
+himself such renown that King Harald gave him three castles, the
+command of all his armies, and his daughter Gunnlôdh in marriage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But King Harald was the most furious Christian hater, and the
+bitterest
+opposer of the Gospel in all the North.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And for long years Jarl Sigurd led the troops of King Harald,
+and
+always led them to victory.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord at that time tried his own with severe affliction. He
+had
+turned his face from them, and the vassals of the Bishops, and of the
+Christian princes of the North, could not stand before Jarl Sigurd, and
+his dreaded hammer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the end of this man of blood was horrible, and therefore
+it has
+been--by the command of the holy Father--copied from the letter of the
+Archbishop, as a fearful warning to all who read these pages.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he, that is to say, after once more in a great battle
+overthrowing
+the Bishop's troops, was pursuing them in sinful joy, and shouting
+&quot;victory, victory!&quot; he was mortally wounded by an arrow in the breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">King Harald caused his heathen priests and the skalds to draw
+near to
+the right side of the death bed, to console him with songs of Valhalla.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The wounded man waved them away with his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then drew near, on the other side of the dying, three
+Christian
+priests, who had been made prisoners in the battle, and would have
+given him the holy last Sacrament, if he acknowledged the Lord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Indignantly the godless sinner repulsed them with his arm. And
+when
+King Harald, astonished, asked him in whom then he believed, if not in
+the heathen Gods, nor in the white Christ? he laughed and said--&quot;I
+believe in myself, and my strength. Kiss me once more, Gunnlôdh, and
+give me Greek wine in a golden cup.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he kissed her, and drank, and said--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Glorious it is to die in victory&quot;--and died.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he remained unhonoured and unburied by heathen priests and
+Christians, since he had defiantly rejected both.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So then it is certain and set forth as a warning to all--but
+to us a
+righteous consolation--that the God accursed soul of this most
+blasphemous of all sinners must burn in hell for ever and ever--Amen.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2><a name="div1_post" href="#div1Ref_post">POSTSCRIPT</a>.</h2>
+
+<p class="continue">What I here wrote down, years since, as my belief concerning
+the fate,
+after death, of this abandoned sinner, has been fully confirmed by a
+delightful testimony.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That is to say, Brother Ignatius--who lately died--and
+certainly in
+great sanctity--was before his death honoured by a wonderful vision.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Saint Columban, himself, in a dream, led him by the hand into
+hell, and
+there he saw, in the deepest pit of sulpher, Brother Irenæus, burning
+whole and entire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But upon his left shoulder blade, on the spot where he struck
+me, his
+Abbot, sat an infernal raven, and hacked unceasingly through the
+shoulder even to his blaspheming heart.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of this has Brother Ignatius assured us before his death. And
+therefore
+have I hereunto add this also, about the raven and the shoulder blade,
+in order that all who read these pages, but especially the disciples of
+the holy Columban in this monastery, may learn the chastisement which
+awaits him who lifts heart and hand against his soul's shepherd, the
+Abbot.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h2>AMEN.</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note01" href="#div2Ref_note01">Footnote 1</a>: &quot;Oski,&quot; in reality one of the special forms of Odin, is,
+in the Scandinavian mythology, the god who fulfils all the desires of
+men.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note02" href="#div2Ref_note02">Footnote 2</a>: Here the parchment is pierced through, and with
+different
+ink three crosses are signed over the burnt out part.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note03" href="#div2Ref_note03">Footnote 3</a>: Cup sacred to Bragi, the god of poetry. At the
+Yule feast
+the heathen were wont, while the Bragi cup was passing round, to pledge
+themselves by vows to the performance of deeds of special danger or
+renown. They swore upon the Bragi cup, or upon the boar's head, which
+was the principal dish of the feast.</p>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note04" href="#div2Ref_note04">Footnote 4</a>: A poetical expression of the Edda for the
+beginning of
+drunkenness.</p>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note05" href="#div2Ref_note05">Footnote 5</a>: &quot;Brisingamene,&quot; the necklace of Freya, the
+goddess of
+love, was the symbol of female charm and attraction.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note06" href="#div2Ref_note06">Footnote 6</a>: <i>i.e.</i> Peacebringer.</p>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p class="normal">&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Saga of Halfred the Sigskald
+       A Northern Tale of the Tenth Century
+
+Author: Felix Dahn
+
+Translator: Sophie F. E. Veitch
+
+Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32443]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+Source: http://www.archive.org/details/sagahalfredsigs00veitgoog
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      SAGA OF HALFRED THE SIGSKALD
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  SAGA
+
+                                   OF
+
+                          HALFRED THE SIGSKALD
+
+
+                     _A Northern Tale of the Tenth_
+                               _Century_
+
+
+
+                                   BY
+                              FELIX DAHN.
+
+
+
+                   TRANSLATED BY SOPHIE F. E. VEITCH.
+
+
+
+                           ALEXANDER GARDNER,
+                PAISLEY; AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+                                 1886.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+  CHAPTER I.,
+  CHAPTER II.,
+  CHAPTER III.,
+  CHAPTER IV.,
+  CHAPTER V.,
+  CHAPTER VI.,
+  CHAPTER VII.,
+  CHAPTER VIII.,
+  CHAPTER IX.,
+  CHAPTER X.,
+  CHAPTER XI.,
+  CHAPTER XII.,
+  CHAPTER XIII.,
+  CHAPTER XIV.,
+  CHAPTER XV.,
+  CHAPTER XVI.,
+  CHAPTER XVII.,
+  CHAPTER XVIII.,
+  CHAPITER XIX.,
+  POSTSCRIPT,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     Saga of Halfred the Sigskald.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Nigh upon fifty winters ago, there was growing up in the North a boy
+named Halfred. In Iceland, on the Hamund Fjord, stood the splendid hall
+of his father, Hamund.
+
+At that time, so the heathen people believe, elves and goblins still
+moved about freely among the Northern nations. And many say that an
+elf, who had been friendly to the powerful Hamund, drew near to the
+shield cradle of the boy Halfred, and for his first food laid wild
+honey upon his lips, and said--
+
+           "Victory shall be thine in harping--
+            Victory shall be thine in singing--
+            Sigskald shall all nations name thee."
+
+But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people.
+
+And Halfred grew, and was strong and beautiful. He sat often alone on
+the cliffs, and listened how the wind played in rifts in the crags, and
+he would fain have tuned his harp to the same strain, and because he
+could not do it he was filled with fury.
+
+And when this fury swept over his forehead the veins in his temples
+swelled, and there came a red darkness before his eyes. And then his
+arm sometimes did that whereof his head knew nothing.
+
+When his father died Halfred took the seat of honour in the hall. But
+he took no heed to preserve or improve his inheritance. He gave himself
+up to harp playing and feats of arms. He devised a new strain in
+singing, "Halfred's strain," which greatly charmed all who heard it,
+and in which none could imitate him. And in hatchet throwing, not one
+of the men of Iceland could equal him. He dashed his hammer through
+three shields, and at two ships' lengths he would not miss with its
+sharp edge a finger broad arrow shaft.
+
+His mind was now set upon building a dragon ship, strong and splendid,
+worthy of a Viking, wherein he might make voyages, to harry or levy
+toll upon island and mainland, or to play his harp in the halls of
+kings.
+
+And through many an anxious night he considered how he should build his
+ship, and could devise no plan. Yet the image of the ship was always
+before his eyes, as it must be, with prow and stem, with board and bow;
+and instead of a dragon it must carry a silver swan on the prow.
+
+And when, one morning, he came out of the hall, and looked out over the
+Fjord, towards the north, there, from the south-south-east, came
+floating into Hamund's Bay a mighty ship, with swelling sails. Then
+Halfred and his house-churls seized their weapons, and hurried out
+either to drive away or welcome the sailors. Ever nearer drove the
+ship, but neither helmet nor spear flashed on board, and though they
+shouted through the trumpet all was still. Then Halfred and his
+followers sprang into the boat, and rowed to the great ship, and saw
+that it was altogether empty, and climbed on board. And this was the
+most splendid dragon ship that ever spread sail on the salt seas. But
+instead of a dragon it bore a silver swan upon the prow.
+
+And moreover also, Halfred told me, the ship was in all things the
+same as the image he had seen in his night and day dreams; forty oars
+in iron rowlocks, the deck pavillioned with shields, the sails
+purple-striped, the prow carved with runes against breakers, and the
+ropes of sea-dogs' skin. And the high-arched silver wings of the swan
+were ingeniously carved, and the wind rushed through them with a
+melodious sound.
+
+And Halfred sprang up to the seat of honour on the upper-deck, upon
+which lay spread a purple royal mantle, and a silver harp, with a
+swan's head, leaned against it.
+
+And Halfred said--
+
+           "Singing Swan shalt thou be called, my ship;
+            Singing and victorious shalt thou sail."
+
+And many said the elf who had given him his name had sent the Singing
+Swan to him.
+
+But that is an idle tale of the heathen people. For it has often
+happened that slightly anchored ships have broken away in storms, while
+the seamen were carousing ashore.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+
+And forthwith it became known that Halfred had armed the best of his
+house churls, and his followers, with good weapons, to set forth as a
+Viking to conquer, and as a Skald to sing.
+
+And over the whole of Iceland, and the islands all around, there was
+much talk about the Singing Swan, which "Oski"[1] himself--that is the
+god of the heathen people--had sent to Halfred Hamundson. "He is the
+son of Oski; nothing shall miscarry with him, be it man's hate, or
+woman's love, in sword thrusts, or in harp playing; great treasure and
+rich Skald rewards shall he win, and his gentle hand can take and
+spend, but keep nothing."
+
+And now there came many, drawn to him by the wish to be his sailing
+comrades, even from the furthest islands of the western sea, so that he
+could have manned seven ships. He manned, however, only the Singing
+Swan, with three hundred men whom he chose himself, and with them he
+set sail upon the sea.
+
+And now there would be much which might be told about the great
+victories which Halfred won, through many long years, with hammer
+and harp, on all the seas from Mikilgard--which the Latins call
+Byzantium--even to the island of Hibernia, in the far west.
+
+And of all these feats and victories, voyages and minstrelsy, and
+contests of arms and harp playing, had I, as a child by the cloister
+hearth, heard the Skalds sing, and wandering guests recount, long
+before I looked into Halfred's sea-grey eyes.
+
+For during the long time that he was wholly lost sight of, and the
+Singing Swan had vanished in flames, and all people held Halfred for
+dead, the Skalds composed many songs about him. But that was later.
+
+At that time Halfred thus roamed about everywhere, singing and
+triumphing, winning fights at sea, and contests in palaces. And because
+he was victor over all the Skalds in singing competitions, the people
+named him "Sigskald," and from that, the heathen people, prophesying
+backwards, invented, perhaps, that fable about the elf which had given
+him honey, and his name, in the cradle.
+
+And he amassed great spoils, and many hundred rings of red gold, and
+gave them all away again to his sailing comrades. And yet he still
+heaped up rich hords upon the Singing Swan; and brought also much
+treasure to Hamund's hall, where he was wont to pass the winter.
+
+And he splendidly improved the hall, and built over against it a great
+Mead hall, in which a thousand men could drink: and six steps led to
+the seat of honour in the Mead hall.
+
+But the most costly thing among all his spoils was a
+candelabrum--"Lampas" the Greeks call it--half as high as a man, of
+pure gold, with seven flaming arms, which far away, in the land of
+Greece, he had borne away from a marble city that he had burned.
+
+And this treasure Halfred himself prized highly, who otherwise cared
+nothing for gold. And at the Yule feast, and the Midsummer feast, and
+at all high festivals, it must stand close before him upon the table,
+with its sevenfold flame.
+
+But that at which everyone wondered most was, that all people who saw
+Halfred, and heard him sing, seemed to be forced to be friendly to him.
+It often happened that even the Skalds whom he vanquished in song
+contests, themselves conceived great love for him, and praised his
+strains more than their own.
+
+But this is truly the most incredible thing that can be told of Skalds.
+Compared to this it is a small thing that a wooer whom he had
+supplanted in a woman's favour should become his friend and blood
+brother. But that was later.
+
+And, indeed, because everything seemed miraculous, those heathen people
+invented that legend that he was the son of Oski, and that therefore
+neither men's wrath nor maiden's pride could withstand him; that a god
+was throned upon his forehead, who dazzled all eyes; with many more
+such fables.
+
+Above all they say that his smile could conquer all hearts, as the
+midsummer sun melts the ice.
+
+And about this also they tell a story.
+
+That is, that once, in the depth of winter, he found at the foot of
+Snaeja-Tjoell, a little maiden of five years old, nearly frozen to
+death. She had strayed from her mother's cottage, and could not find
+the way back.
+
+And although Halfred was very weary, and had many followers with him,
+he sent them all nevertheless alone to the hall, took the child himself
+upon his shoulder, and travelled many stages further, always tracking
+the tiny footprints of the little maiden, who had fallen fast asleep,
+until he found her mother's cottage. And he laid the child in the
+mother's arms, and she woke and smiled. And the mother wished for him,
+as a reward, that he should smile henceforth like a child that sees its
+mother again. And this also had Oski granted to him.
+
+But this is a mere idle tale of the heathen people; for there is no
+Oski; and no heathen gods; and perchance also no[2] .... I say that he
+carried the child back himself, carefully, to the mother. Many a Viking
+would only, from compassion, have thrust her deeper in the snow; the
+best would have given her to one of his followers to carry to the hall.
+But to carry her back, himself, through the snow, to her mother, that
+would no Viking have done that I know; above all when he was tired and
+hungry.
+
+I say, then, in Halfred there was great goodness of heart, such as is
+generally wont to be found alone in innocent children; and therefore
+his smile was heart-winning, as is a child's smile. And out of this,
+therefore, have the heathen people invented that gift of Oski.
+
+For that he did carry the child to the mother, that I certainly,
+myself, fully and undoubtingly believe of Halfred. And I would be the
+last not to believe it of him.
+
+Nevertheless he could become suddenly very wrathful, when the veins in
+his temples swelled. Then, often, if any enemy roused him by defiance,
+he would dash, blindly raging, among the spears, like a Berseker.
+
+Over and above all this, they tell many tales of the god-like gifts
+which made maidens love him. But that is not a miracle, as it comes
+very near being that a conquered singer should love him.
+
+For he possessed a brilliant noble countenance, which no one forgot who
+had once seen it, and a heart-winning soft, yet powerful voice. He
+avoided rude jesting; and he could always divine what was the peculiar
+charm of every fair maiden's beauty; and he knew how to put it to her
+as a riddle, over which she herself had long been vainly pondering.
+
+But other riddles, also, he knew well how to find out.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+
+And thus had Halfred now, for many years, roamed about as a Viking and
+as a Skald, and had won fame and red gold; and once more he again
+celebrated the Yule feast at home in his hall.
+
+And there were very many hundred men assembled there in the Mead hall
+which he had fitted up. All his sailing comrades, and very many
+Icelanders, and many foreign guests, from Austrvegr, and even from
+Hylmreck, and Dyflin, on the western sea. Among them also the Skald,
+Vandrad, from Tiunderland.
+
+And the Bragi cup[3] passed round, and many men vowed vows thereon, and
+many a one pledged himself to daring deeds, which he would perform
+before Midsummertide, or die. Halfred also, as well as the guests, had
+drunk a great deal of mead; more than he was wont to drink, as he
+himself, afterwards, earnestly told me.
+
+And this also the heathen point to in him as a miraculous gift of his
+father Oski; that he could drink far far more than other men, in
+fact--and they hold him therein very lucky--as many horns full as he
+chose, without the heron of forgetfulness[4] sweeping through his
+dizzied brain.
+
+But this is foolishly said, for even I can scare away the heron, if I,
+after each draught, think quietly to myself, and do not propose many
+toasts; for such attract the heron.
+
+Halfred had now certainly emptied many horns; but as yet he had vowed
+no vow. Silent and grave he sat in the seat of the honour, as befitted
+the host; exhorted the tardy drinkers--there were not however many of
+them--by sending the cup bearer to them, with the drinking horn; and
+smiled quietly, when many a one vowed vows which he would never fulfil.
+
+Then arose from his seat Vandrad the Skald, from Tiunderland, and stood
+upon the second step of the dais, and spoke. Halfred had vanquished him
+five times, and yet the Skald was a faithful loving friend to him--
+
+     "Vows have here been now vowed by many
+      Guests of small worth.
+      But Halfred, the Lord of the mead hall,
+      Still holds his thoughts hidden.
+      I laud him, most lofty,
+      No vows hath he need of,
+      His name may content him.
+      Yet I miss in the mead hall
+      One thing to the mighty,
+      To the man is awanting
+      A maiden to wife.
+      What rapture if only,
+      From the high seat of honour,
+      The horn to us, downward,
+      The dazzling white hand
+      Of the nobly born Princess,
+      Harthild, should hold."
+
+All the guests kept silence when Vandrad had spoken. Halfred looked
+proudly down upon him, and very gently, he told me later, he felt the
+veins in his temples swell, as, smiling, he asked the Skald--but it was
+the smile of a king, not a child's smile--
+
+     "And what then of Harthild,
+      Her beauty and fame,
+      Canst thou here sound the praise,
+      In Halfred's mead hall?"
+
+Then said Vandrad--
+
+     "For all that thou knowest,
+      Thou far roaming Viking,
+      Hast thou never heard Harthild's
+      Descent and renown
+      Proclaimed on the harp?
+      From Upsala's ancient
+      Deep rooted stem
+      The maiden is sprung.
+      Hartstein the Haggard,
+      Men call her father,
+      The powerful monarch
+      Of far spreading fame.
+      His daughter close guarded
+      He haughtily holds;
+      All wooers rejecting,
+      Who cannot excel him
+      In throwing the hammer.
+      And no less the maiden
+      All men avoideth,
+      Man-like her own mood.
+      With good cause she boasteth
+      Herself in deep riddles
+      Above all the Skalds
+      Skilful to be.
+      'Breaker of men's wits'
+      In dread and in envy,
+      They call her in Nordland.
+      To every wooer
+      Who fain her proud spirit
+      In wedlock would bind,
+      Tells she the same
+      Close sealed riddle;
+      For none--not the wisest--
+      Has ever yet solved it.
+      Then scornfully laughing,
+      With her sharp scissors,
+      --For so runs the statute--
+      To shame him, she sheareth
+      From the hero his hair."
+
+Then Halfred's temple veins swelled fearfully. He shook back the thick
+black locks which flowed down even to his shoulders, and drained off a
+deep drinking horn. Then he sprang from his seat, and seized the Bragi
+cup, on which vows were wont to be vowed. Once more he paused, set down
+the Bragi cup again, and asked--
+
+     "But Skald, say now, quickly,
+      --Oft hast thou seen her--
+      This men avoider.
+      Beautiful is she?
+      This breaker of men's wits,
+      Would the bride's wreath become her?"
+
+Vandrad replied--
+
+     "Nor soft nor gentle,
+      Is she, nor lovely,
+      But proud and stately
+      Stands her tall form.
+      Nor could another
+      Carry so fitly
+      The crown of a king."
+
+Then Halfred again took up the Bragi cup, strode forward to the highest
+step which led to his seat of honour, and paused where exactly in the
+centre was burned into the oaken floor a circle, in red runes, so small
+that a man could only tread therein with one foot. Halfred kneeled
+down, planted his left foot within the circle, and lifted the Bragi cup
+in his right hand, high above his head.
+
+And all were very eager to hear what he would now say; for this was the
+strongest, the most solemn form in which vow could be vowed. And
+Halfred said--
+
+           "Ere yet the on coming
+            Midsummer tide
+            Shall sink in the sea,
+            Will I bring Harthild,
+            The daughter of Hartstein,
+            Here as my wife,
+            To dwell in my hall,
+            Or hold me shall Hell.
+
+           "Her wit-breaking sayings
+            Will I lay bare,
+            Her runic riddles
+            Will I unfold.
+            Unshamed, and unshaven,
+            These black locks shake freely.
+            Her man-despising
+            Maiden mood quelling,
+            My wedded wife
+            Will force her to be.
+            The breaker of men's wits
+            Will I break in.
+            A right noble heir
+            Of all that I own
+            She shall here, in my hall,
+            Soon cherish, my son.
+            And softly shall sing him
+            To sleep with the songs
+            Of his father's great deeds,
+            Or hold me shall Hell."
+
+Thus ended the Yule feast, at that time; for all the guests started up
+from their seats with a great uproar, in a confused throng, and drank
+to Halfred, and shouted that this was the best and most admirable vow
+which in the memory of man had been vowed in the north.
+
+And the tumult was so great that Halfred had to command silence from
+the dais, and very soon to send round the parting cup to the uproarious
+heroes.
+
+And Halfred told me that when, under the light of the stars, he crossed
+the court to his dwelling-house, he repented of his vow. Not because he
+feared King Hartstein's hammer-throwing, or dreaded his daughter's
+riddle. But because it is always wiser for a man to see a maiden,
+before he determines to make her his wife.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+And so soon as the Austr-Vogen was free from ice, the Singing Swan
+sailed towards Svearike, and through numberless perils into the great
+sea which lies to the south and east of Upland; and from thence she
+followed a river, as far as there was floating depth, upwards towards
+Tiunderland, and to Upsala.
+
+And many will now believe that Halfred had a great struggle and much
+difficulty to overcome King Hartstein and his daughter, and will expect
+to hear how it came to pass.
+
+But there is nothing to tell; for everything went easily and quickly
+with him, according to his wishes, which the heathen people again
+boasted had been thus arranged by Oski.
+
+King Hartstein was, in general, a flinty-hearted man, full of
+suspicion, and short of speech. When, however, he saw Halfred, and
+called to him as he entered his hall, and drew near to the throne, and
+asked him--"Stranger, what desirest thou in Tiunderland, and of King
+Hartstein?"--And when Halfred, with that smile which Oski had bestowed
+upon him, looked into the fierce eyes, and joyously replied--"The best
+will I have that Tiunderland and King Hartstein possess--his daughter."
+Then the grim old man was at once won, and in his secret heart he
+wished that Halfred might be his son-in-law.
+
+And then they went out to the court for the hammer-throwing, and the
+King threw well, but Halfred threw far better, and thus the first trial
+was won.
+
+"Harder will thou find the second," said the old man, and led Halfred
+to the Skemma, the chamber of the women, where the breaker of men's
+wits, in a shining dark blue mantle, sat among her maidens, a head
+taller than any of them.
+
+And they say that when Halfred entered the chamber, and his glance fell
+upon her, a hot tremor passed over her, and a sudden glow dyed her
+cheeks crimson, and confused her.
+
+Certain it is that with a golden spindle, with which she had played
+rather than spun, she pricked her finger, and let it fall with a
+clatter.
+
+But Sudha, the foremost of her maidens, the captive daughter of the
+King of Halogaland, who sat at her right hand, picked up the spindle,
+and held it. And many interpreted this later, as a bad omen. At the
+time, however, it was hardly observed.
+
+And Vandrad the Skald said later to Halfred, that the woman had
+been elf-struck at the first sight of him: but he thereupon said
+earnestly--"It had been better had I been elf-struck at sight of her;
+but I remained unwounded."
+
+And forthwith King Hartstein assembled all his courtiers, and the women
+of the castle, and the guests, in the hall, for the riddle solving.
+
+And Harthild arose from the arm chair at his right hand, and her face
+grew crimson as she looked at Halfred, which--as they declare--had
+never before happened to her at the challenging of her riddle.
+
+She paused for a space, looked downwards, then again upon Halfred, and
+now with searching and defiant eyes. And she began--
+
+           "What is held in Valhalla?
+            What is hidden in Hell?
+            What hammers in hammer?
+            And heads the strong helm?
+            What begins the host slaughter?
+            What closes a sigh?
+            And what holds in Harthild
+            The head and the heart?"
+
+Then she would have seated herself, as was her wont after giving out
+the riddle; but struck by terror she remained standing, and grasped the
+arm of the chair; for Halfred, without any reflecting, stretched his
+right hand towards her, and spoke--
+
+           "Hast thou nothing harder,
+            Haughty one, hidden?
+            Then wreathe thy proud head
+            For Hymen in haste,
+            For what's held in Valhalla,
+            What's hidden in Hell,
+            What hammers in hammer,
+            And heads the strong helm,
+            What begins the host slaughter,
+            And closes a sigh,
+            What Harthild the haughty
+            The head and the heart holds,
+            What hovers deep hidden
+            In high thoughts of her heart,
+            And what here has Halfred
+            To proud Harthild holpen,
+            'Tis the Sacred Rune
+            The hero's own H."
+
+Then Harthild sank pale with rage in her chair, and covered her head
+with her veil.
+
+But when Hartstein, her father, drew near amidst loud cries of
+astonishment from the listeners in the hall, and would have drawn the
+veil from her face, she sprang up vehemently, threw back the veil--and
+they saw that she had wept--and cried in a harsh voice--
+
+           "Well has thou solved
+            The hidden riddle.
+            With mighty wit
+            Hast won a wife,
+            Woe to thee if tenderly
+            Thou usest her not!"
+
+All kept silence, uneasy at these threatening unloving words. Halfred
+at length broke the stillness, he threw back his head, and shook his
+black locks, and laughed--"I will risk that! King Hartstein, this very
+day will I pay thee the bride's dower. When prepare we the bridal
+feast?"
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+King Hartstein, however, wished for delay, until Hartvik and Eigil
+should have returned from a campaign. Then their reception feast and
+the marriage could be celebrated together.
+
+Hartvik was the king's son, and Harthild's own brother; and Eigil was
+son to the king's brother, and Harthild's cousin.
+
+And he would willingly have taken Harthild away as his wife, but she
+had said to him, "If thou failest to solve my riddle, thy shorn locks
+will cause thee affliction; and if thou solvest my riddle, and I become
+thy wife, that will cause thee still deeper affliction, for no love for
+thee dwells in my heart: and woe to him who without love wins me for
+his wife."
+
+Then Eigil sadly gave it up, although he was a good riddle solver.
+
+And when Hartvik and Eigil were returned there soon grew to be a great
+friendship between Halfred and Hartvik, and Halfred and Eigil, and both
+loved him so well that they said they would lay down their lives for
+him.
+
+And this between Halfred and Hartvik is no great wonder, because
+Halfred always won all men's hearts.
+
+But it may well astonish many that Eigil also should thus love him, who
+still cherished as much love to Harthild as formerly; and who yet
+clearly saw, as all who had eyes could see, that the harsh maiden was
+quite filled with love to Halfred.
+
+And jealousy does not often allow it to be admitted that the
+nightingale has a more charming voice than the carrion crow.
+
+Hartvik and Egil, however, loved Halfred so dearly that they begged him
+to receive them as his blood brothers.
+
+And on the day before the wedding feast was prepared, therefore,
+Hartvik and Eigil became Halfred's blood brethren.
+
+They stood with him, as the heathen people do, under a strip of turf,
+which was lifted on spear points above their heads, the two ends still
+cleaving to the ground, and they mixed the blood which flowed from
+gashes in their right arms down upon the black earth beneath their
+feet.
+
+And therewith they vowed their heads for ever to the infernal gods if
+ever one of the blood brothers should desert the other, in danger or in
+need. And so strongly does this oath bind, that even against his own
+kith and kin, yea even against his own father, must one blood brother
+stand by the other, even until death.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+On the day after the wedding, however, Halfred rode alone into the pine
+wood. He said he wished to think, and he refused Harthild, who would
+have ridden with him, and also his blood brethren.
+
+Darkly Harthild looked after him as he rode out of the court. But
+Sudha, the beautiful daughter of the King of Halogaland, also looked
+after him from an overhanging window, and slowly stroked her blue black
+hair back from her temples.
+
+Vandrad the Skald, however, who often staid at Hartstein's Court, and
+who was there at that time, had long cherished love for Sudha. And he
+had often begged her freedom from King Hartstein, but in vain; the
+stern man had always denied him.
+
+And heretofore she had not listened unwillingly when he sang. But when
+in these days he drew near to her, and spoke of a song which he had
+composed in her praise, she turned away and said--"On the lips of one
+only have the gods laid honey."
+
+And when in the evening Halfred returned from the pinewood towards the
+royal castle, he was leading his weary horse by the bridle, for the
+moon shone but fitfully through storm-rent clouds, there sat upon the
+runic-stone hard by the road a closely veiled woman, and she cried to
+him and said--
+
+"Halfred Hamundson, whereof on the first day of thy marriage, ridest
+thou alone in the pinewood?"
+
+"If thou knowest that, O wise Vala," said Halfred, pausing--and he
+heaved a sigh--"then knowest thou more than Halfred Hamundson."
+
+"I will tell thee," replied the veiled one. "Thou hast sought a woman,
+and found what is nigher to a man, rough, harsh, and devoid of charm.
+The Singing Swan hath paired thee with the vulture's brood. Thou
+chosest the hard flint stone, near to it lay glowing at thy feet the
+rose, exhaling fragrance towards thee."
+
+Then Halfred sprang upon his horse, and cried to the veiled one--
+
+"Nobler hold I it in a woman to be too cold, than too ardent." And he
+dashed away.
+
+And only once, as he told me, he looked back. So beautiful, he said,
+had she never before been, in the full light of day, as now in the
+moonlight, her black eyes glittered--for she had torn off her head
+covering--and she called after him by his name, "Halfred," and her
+blue-black hair fluttered round her in the night wind like a ghostly
+veil.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+And when the depth of winter was passed, and the spring was come,
+Halfred sent a message to Upsala, to King Hartstein, that at the
+midsummer tide Dame Harthild should bear a child.
+
+And the wise women had thrown runic rods over her seven times, and had
+learned each time by unerring signs that the child should be a son. And
+already was his name chosen, "Sigurd Sigskaldson."
+
+And Halfred bade the king, and Hartvik and Eigil, and Vandred the
+Skald, and all the people from the castle at Upsala, as many as the
+ships would hold, to be his guests at Hamund's hall, twenty nights
+before the midsummer tide.
+
+And there, at the birth and naming of the boy, a great feast should be
+held, such as had never before been held in Iceland.
+
+And King Hartstein gave answer that he and all his people, as many as
+twelve ships could carry, would come as bidden, to the feast.
+
+Thus at the beginning of the month of roses came King Hartstein, and
+Hartvik, and Eigil, and many hundred men from the castle at Upsala; and
+people from all parts of Tiunderland.
+
+And among the women who came also, the first that descended from the
+ship was Sudha. She had begged that she might come, out of longing to
+see Harthild.
+
+And again there was close friendship between Halfred and his
+blood-brethren, Hartvik and Eigil. They shared their table and bread
+and salt.
+
+Thus they waited the birth of the heir of the hall, on the midsummer
+day, and made ready a great feast in the Mead hall.
+
+Rich hangings of silken and woven stuffs which Halfred had borne away
+from the islands of Greece were spread upon the wooden walls of the
+drinking hall; the floor was strewn deep with rushes and clean straw,
+and the tables and benches were set out in two long rows, and one cross
+row.
+
+On all the pillars of the walls were hung curiously interlaced weapons,
+which the Viking had gathered from boarded ships, stormed castles, and
+victorious battlefields. But on sideboards around were set out the many
+cups and horns of gold, silver, bronze, amber, and precious horn, which
+the Sigskald had won, by singing in the halls of kings.
+
+But straight before Halfred towered the lofty candalabrum from Greece,
+with its seven flaming arms.
+
+Eigil and Hartvik were to sit on his left hand, the guests from
+Tiunderland and the other strangers on the long benches to the right,
+the house churls and islanders on the long benches to the left of the
+dais. And the most honoured guests had even cushions for the back,
+brought from a pillared marble house which had been burnt on the coast
+of Rumaberg.
+
+The women, however, were not to come into the hall, but to tarry with
+Harthild, and await her hour in the chamber of the women.
+
+This was all splendidly ordered, and Halfred himself told me that
+never, neither as guest nor as host, had he seen such magnificent
+festival preparations.
+
+Two days before the feast, as Halfred, wearied with the summer heat,
+lay upon his couch after the mid-day meal, Sudha glided softly through
+the doorway, and stood before him, and spoke--
+
+
+  "Halfred, skill in song, victory and fame have been thine for
+    twenty years.
+   A wife hast thou had for one year--an heir shalt thou have but now.
+   But never hast thou known Freya's gift--Love's Fulness--
+   Contradict me not--thine eye shuns Dame Harthild's seeking glance;
+   And when thou dreamingly sweepest the strings of thy harp,
+    thou gazest
+   Not in Dame Harthild's cold hard face, but upwards towards
+    the stars.
+   Halfred, not in the clouds dwelleth that for which thou yearnest.
+   Not from the stars shall it float down upon thee; upon the
+    earth it wanders,
+   It is a woman, who with love's charm, with woman's magic,
+    can subdue the Singing Swan--
+   Woe to thee if thou never findest her--
+   What though thou win all fame with sword and harp--the
+    best is still denied thee.
+   Askest thou what maketh me so wise, and withal so daring?
+   Love, love's fulness for thee, thou rich yet poor Sigskald.
+   Behold, I am but a woman--a captive--but I tell thee there
+    is heroism even for women.
+   I have sworn by the infernal gods, as I crossed thy threshold,
+    that here, in Iceland, I will win thy love, or die."
+
+
+Then Halfred arose from his couch, and spoke--
+
+
+  "Wisdom and madness mingled hast thou spoken. There speaks from
+    thee more than Sudha. There speaks a soul stricken of the gods.
+   Horror and compassion seize upon me. I will demand thy
+    freedom from King Hartstein. Then journey homewards to Halagoland.
+   There mayest thou find happiness in the arms of some valiant hero.
+   But here, let Dame Harthild's rights and hearth be sacred
+    unto thee. Disturb not her happiness."
+
+
+And he seized his spear and strode out. But Sudha cried after him, so
+that he still heard her--"Her happiness? Long has she divined her
+misery. Soon shall she clearly perceive, the haughty one, that she is
+more unspeakably wretched than Sudha."
+
+Then, the evening of the same day, she called to her Vandrad the Skald,
+who still always cherished great love for her, to the well in the
+court, as though she would beg him to draw up for her from the depth
+the heavy water bucket. This did Vandrad later, when dying, himself
+tell Halfred.
+
+But when he had raised the bucket to the edge of the well, she lightly
+laid a finger on his bare arm, and said--
+
+"Vandrad, come hither to-night, just when the star Oervandil is
+mirrored in this well. Thou shall tell me all that formerly came to
+pass here, about that oath on the Bragi cup."
+
+Vandrad considered within himself, and he looked doubtingly at her.
+
+Then she said--"Vandrad, I swear to thee by [5]Freya's throat jewels
+that I will become thy wife when I leave this island. Wilt thou now
+come and tell me all?"
+
+Then Vandrad swore to do what she required.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+And now the midsummer feast was magnificently celebrated in the hall.
+And there were full a thousand guests within the hall; but many
+hundreds of the servants and bondmen were camped round about the
+building, in the open air.
+
+Besides the guests from Svearike, there had come from all the
+neighbouring coasts and islands many jarl's and great chieftains. Thus
+from distant Iceland, the kings Konal, and Kiartan from Dyflin; from
+Zealand the Danish Jarl Hako, and Sveno from Lethra; then from West
+Gothaland the three brothers, Arnbiorn, Arngeir, and Arnolfr; Jarls of
+the Western Goths. There had long been a blood feud, which had been but
+newly allayed with blood money, between these three, and the two
+brothers Princes of East Gothaland, Helge and Helgrimr.
+
+And these two, and the other three, would only come with a strong
+well-armed following, when they understood that their adversaries had
+also been bidden to Halfred's feast.
+
+And Halfred had taken care that the followers of the Princes of West
+Gothaland should be lodged to the right, and those of East Gothaland to
+the left, at the back of the hall, in huts of pinewood. And a wooden
+wall with strongly closed doors divided the two encampments.
+
+But also from other vallies of Svearik, besides Tiunderland, from
+Tronland, from Herjadel, Jeutland, and Helsingaland, had come many
+guests, who had often of old been enemies to the people from
+Tiunderland.
+
+The feast, however, proceeded most joyously from daybreak even
+until the night. And when within the hall, and without, where the
+foreign servants were encamped, many fires and pine torches were
+kindled--before Halfred burned the seven armed candelabrum--it was at
+first a right jovial sun fire-feast.
+
+The men, swinging and emptying the drinking horns, sprang over the
+flames, and the Skalds, in songs which they composed at the moment they
+rose, vied with each other in praises of Halfred and his deeds with
+hammer and harp, and of the Singing Swan, and the hall, and the feast.
+
+And all the foreign kings also proclaimed that never had they seen so
+lordly a midsummer feast celebrated, neither at home, nor in the halls
+of any other host.
+
+Halfred sat with a joyful heart in the seat of honour. He signed to his
+harp-bearer to bring him his silver harp, for he wished at the last, to
+requite the laudations of the Skalds and the praises of the guests with
+thanks and a song of welcome.... And then began that catastrophe which
+was to overwhelm Halfred and his house, and the men of Tiunderland, and
+all the guests, and many other men and women, altogether strange and
+far away, who had never even seen or heard of Halfred and Harthild, in
+blood and fire.
+
+That is to say, the great door of the hall, exactly opposite to the
+seat of honour opened, and Dame Harthild strode in.
+
+Haughtily erect she walked, her head thrown back. A long black mantle
+was wrapped around her head and neck and breast, and her whole body; it
+floated trailing after her, like the curling wave behind a ship's
+stern.
+
+And Halfred said to one it seemed to him, then, as if the most fearful
+of the Fates was striding through the hall.
+
+Straight up the hall she passed, followed by Sudha and her women, her
+glance fixed upon Halfred.
+
+Slowly, silently, she ascended the six steps of the dais, and paused
+straight before Halfred at the table. Only the heavy candelabrum stood
+between the two.
+
+But all the men in the hall sat speechless, and gazed up at the black
+woman, who looked like a dark thunder cloud.
+
+"Halfred Hamundson," she began--and her voice was loud, yet
+toneless--"Answers I demand to two questions, before these ten hundred
+hearers in thy hall. Lie not to me."
+
+The blood rose to Halfred's brow, and he felt his temple veins throb
+heavily. "If I speak or act," he said to himself, "I know neither what
+I should say nor do. Therefore I will keep silence and do nothing."
+
+But Harthild, with her left hand pressed upon her thigh,
+continued--"Didst thou, in that first night, when I held thy hand firm
+upon my girdle, and asked thee if thou lovedst me, say Yes or No?
+Answer me Sigskald. I and the gods know about that."
+
+"Yes," said Halfred, and knitted his brows.
+
+"And is it true, as Vandrad the Skald has sworn, that here, in this
+hall, at the Yule feast, after many horns of mead, thou didst vow, as a
+wanton wager, that before the midsummer tide, thou would break in the
+breaker of men's wits like a stubborn horse, and that to make good
+these boasting words thou camest to Tiunderland, and remained, as thou
+didst lament, unwounded at sight of me."
+
+"Speak the truth--lie not again--a thousand listeners hear thee--thou
+lordly son of Oski--Is it so?"
+
+Then Halfred raged in his inmost heart, but he constrained himself, and
+replied firmly and distinctly--
+
+"It is as thou hast said."
+
+Then Harthild drew herself up yet higher, and like two serpents
+flashed, glances of fearful hatred from her eyes, as she spoke--
+
+
+   "So be thou accursed, from the crown of thy head to the sole of thy
+ foot, thou who hast deceived and disgraced a hapless woman;
+    Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;
+    Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;
+    Cursed be thy lying Ups--They shall wither and smile no more;
+    Cursed be thy flattering voice--It shall be dumb;
+    Thy house and thy hall shall perish in flames--The Singing Swan
+ shall burn;
+    Thy hand shall be crippled--thy hammer not strike--thy harp shall
+ shatter;
+   Victory shall be denied thee in battle and in song;
+   Nothing shall any more delight thee, in which of yore thou hast
+ rejoiced;
+   The sun of spring--the flowers of the forest--the fire of wine--the
+ blackbird's song--the greeting of the evening star--Sleepless shall
+ roll thy groaning head, and if slumber draws near to thee it shall be
+ with stifling dreams.
+   Yet a twofold curse shall rend ye both, if thou winnest again a
+ woman's love.
+   In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than
+ thy soul.
+   But the son whom I, wretched one, must bear, shall be his mother's
+ avenger upon his father.
+   Liar's son, Scoundrel's son, Harthild's Vengeance shall his name be.
+   And one day, villain, shall he smite thee, as here, to shame thee
+ before all men, my hand now strikes thee in the face."
+
+
+And she lifted high her outspread right hand, and aimed a blow over the
+table at Halfred's head.
+
+Halfred sprang up, and to avert such a disgrace threw up his left arm.
+Then he struck the heavy seven flaming candalabrum; with a crash the
+metal fell with all its flaming arms upon Dame Harthild's breast and
+body, and then upon the ground.
+
+As though struck by lightning stood the woman all in flames--mantle and
+hair blazed up. At once the fire caught the straw thickly strewn upon
+the floor.
+
+"King Hartstein, avenge thy unhappy child," shrieked Harthild, in
+agony. She believed that in rage Halfred had hurled the candalabrum
+upon her.
+
+The king believed the same, and whilst Halfred grasped at the blazing
+woman to rescue her, Kling Hartstein with a cry of "Down thou
+scoundrel," struck him a sharp sword stroke on the forehead, so that he
+fell stunned.
+
+And with a second blow he would have slain him, had not Eigil and
+Hartvik sprung up and quickly borne away their blood brother.
+
+Thus it came to pass that from the very outset Halfred could neither
+avert nor control this catastrophe--He alone could have done it.
+
+Now, however, the burning woman and the flaming straw filled everyone
+with sudden frenzy.
+
+The people from Tiunderland rose up in fury when they saw their king's
+daughter fall flaming on the crackling straw; and Halfred's comrades
+drew their swords when they saw their lord fall bleeding. And flame and
+smoke, shrieks of women, and avenging shouts of men filled the hall.
+
+Then broke loose a fighting and devastation in the hall so gigantic,
+say the heathen people, that the like shall never be seen again until
+the twilight of the gods, when all demons and giants, goblins and
+elves, gnomes, menkind, and pigmies, shall slay each other, and heaven,
+earth and hell shall perish in flames.
+
+Harthild in her burning clothes, was carried out by her shrieking
+women. One only was missing. Sudha sprang through flames and arms to
+where Halfred lay on his blood-brethren's knees.
+
+"Dead," she cried; "Slain by Sudha. Then share we death, if not life."
+And she drew Halfred's dagger from his belt, and plunged it in her own
+breast.
+
+"Slain Halfred! by my babbling tongue. Sudha slain!" cried Vandrad the
+Skald. "I will avenge thee, Halfred."
+
+And he tore a casting spear from the trophies hanging on the
+flame-wreathed wooden pillars, and hurled it whistling at the temples
+of King Hartstein, so that he fell dead.
+
+Wildly shouted the people of Tiunderland, and their near kindred from
+West Gothaland, for vengeance for Harthild and King Hartstein.
+
+And the Jarl Ambiorn, from West Gothaland, seized in both hands a heavy
+brazen double-handled tankard, and dashed it down on Vandrad's
+forehead, so that he fell.
+
+But when the Princes from East Gothaland saw this, that their mortal
+foes aided the men from Upsala, then they fell, Helgi and Helgrimr,
+with furious blows upon both their old enemies, and the guests from
+Upsala.
+
+And now could none any longer give a thought to extinguishing the
+blazing straw upon the floor, or the quickly burning silken and woollen
+hangings on the walls or the wooden pillars, up which tongues of flame
+were creeping.
+
+For blindly now flew spears and axes, and golden and silver drinking
+horns; and many who would have striven for peace, or trodden out the
+flames, had fallen, struck down by both sides.
+
+"Must we alone stand idle among the strange guests at this bloody
+midsummer feast?" said the Danish Jarl Hako, to the Irish King Konal,
+"so that the Skalds shall taunt us as drink valiant but battle shy. We
+have an old strife about stolen horses. Let us fight it out here, thou
+Irish Greenpeak!"
+
+"Thou drunkard of Zealand," was the answer, "I will quench for ever thy
+thirst and thy reviling;" and he struck his broad short Irish knife
+through his teeth into his throat.
+
+Then Sveno, his brother, fell furiously upon the Irish king, and their
+followers, Danes and Irish, fought by themselves their own battle in
+the forefront of the hall, and thus blocked up the door, so that no one
+could escape from the hall into the open air.
+
+And those who had no weapons tore down the trophies from the pillars,
+or hurled about the heavy drinking horns, and even the flaming beams
+and blocks which already fell from the ceiling, and instead of shields
+they defended themselves with the tables.
+
+And all wildly mingled fought the people of Tiunderland and Iceland, of
+Westgothaland and Eastgothaland, of Zealand and Ireland. And hardly did
+anyone know who was friend or foe; and many, many men sank down,
+wounded or burnt.
+
+And at last the flames had burst through the roof, and shot blazing up
+towards heaven.
+
+And as the wind from above blew down upon the swelling hangings on the
+walls, they flashed up suddenly in a brighter blaze.
+
+And now the highest beam fell with a crash; and thereupon rang out a
+sound as though forty harp strings had all at once uttered their dying
+wail. And it was even so, for the beam had severed in twain Halfred's
+silver harp, which lay close by his head.
+
+At this wailing harp cry Halfred opened his eyes, and looked around
+him, and all the truth broke upon him. He sprang up and shouted
+threateningly through slaughter and flames--Hartvik and Eigil protected
+him with shield and sword--
+
+"Hold! Peace, peace in the hall! Magic has frenzied us all! Quench,
+quench the fire which devours us all!"
+
+And so great was his power over friends and foes that for a moment all
+paused.
+
+Then hark! From without there thundered on the hindmost door of the
+hall heavy axe strokes, and the cry--
+
+"Halfred, Halfred, save thy house! Save the Singing Swan!"
+
+With a crash the door fell inwards, and new devastation was seen, which
+kindled afresh the momentarily smothered battle fury in the hall.
+
+Halfred looked through the doorway. The house of his forefathers, and
+the ships in the harbour, and the Singing Swan were all wrapped in
+flames.
+
+The followers of the princes of Westgothaland, who were lodged in the
+pine huts, had first heard the din of battle, and seen the flames in
+the hall. "To the rescue--to the rescue of our lords," they shouted,
+tore down the wooden wall that divided them from the Mead hall, and
+hurried to their aid.
+
+But then there threw themselves upon them, to hinder them, their
+hostile neighbours, the followers of the princes of Eastgothaland, who
+being too weak to hold the open field, retreated partly into Halfred's
+dwelling house, partly to their ships in the Fjord.
+
+With shouts of triumph the victors followed, crowded with the fugitives
+into Halfred's dwelling house, and stormed the ships in the bay; and
+dwelling house and ships were suddenly wrapped in flames, either set on
+fire by the combatants, or ignited by sparks and burning splinters,
+borne by the strong south wind from the roof of the Mead hall.
+
+Halfred threw one glance at his shattered harp, and the burning house
+of his fathers; then he grasped his hammer firmer, and cried--
+
+"Come hither to me all Halfred's comrades. Quit the hall. Save the
+Swan!"
+
+And with a mighty onslaught, swinging his hammer round his head, he
+burst through the ranks of the men who had already renewed the battle
+in the hall.
+
+Hartvik and Eigil followed on his track, and many of his own people,
+and also of the enemy.
+
+But those who did not leave the drinking hall with him were almost all
+at once numbered with the dead. For with a heavy crash, close behind
+Halfred, fell the whole burning roof into the hall.
+
+Halfred glanced back in his rapid course. High upwards shot the blaze,
+mingling with sound of shrieks from hundreds slain. Then all was silent
+in the midsummer feast hall.
+
+Halfred rushed on, followed by friends and foes, past his father's
+house. He saw the flames creeping up the pillars; within rose the din
+of raging conflict; on the threshold lay a slaughtered servant girl.
+
+Soon Halfred and his comrades reached the bay, where the battle surged
+around the high-decked ships. Many were burning. Many dragon's heads
+seemed to vomit fire and smoke.
+
+Around the Singing Swan, however, raged the battle most furiously. In
+dense masses the enemy thronged round her, wading, swimming, in boats
+and on rafts, they crowded on; others hurled spears and arrows from the
+shore at her defenders, and more than one burning arrow had struck and
+set fire to her.
+
+The left wing of the ingeniously carved Swan was on fire; tongues of
+fire were creeping up ropes and sails--just as Halfred arrived they
+caught the mast.
+
+Then grief and fury seized upon him. His temple veins swelled almost to
+the size of a child's finger.
+
+"Quench, quench the flames! All hands on deck! Save the Swan! Cut the
+anchor-cable. Put out to sea. Fight no more. I will fight for you all."
+
+His faithful followers obeyed him. The seamen left off fighting, and
+laboured only to quench the flames, in which also they soon succeeded,
+as no more arrows flew from the land, and the foe were forced to leave
+the ship.
+
+For Halfred raged furiously, as none had ever seen him fight. With a
+loud battle-cry he sprang upon the people of Westgothaland and
+Tiunderland, and struck them down one after another.
+
+Loyally aided him Hartvik and Eigil, his blood brethren, and spared not
+even their own countrymen and kindred; but thought rather on the blood
+oath which bound them more closely to Halfred than to their own
+kinsmen.
+
+And the foe fell back before Halfred and his comrades, from the open
+field into the dwelling house, which was half burned down, and
+barricaded it.
+
+And thus he stormed his own house, in which the people from
+Westgothaland had before overcome the house churls and the East Goths,
+and slain them all.
+
+Yet a whole hour lasted the conflict. There Halfred, on the threshold
+of his house, slew the Danish Jarl Sveno, the last chieftain of the
+enemy who still lived, and pressed into the house with his men.
+
+The people from Westgothaland, Zealand, and Tiunderland, defended
+themselves like bears at bay. But at last they were all slain. And from
+thence Halfred returned to the Mead hall, which was still glowing, and
+searched who there still lived.
+
+But there, also, all were dead.
+
+And they found the bodies of King Hartstein, and Sudha, and of the Dane
+Hako, and the two Irishmen, Konal and Kiartan, of the Eastgothic
+Prince Helge--Helgrimr had fallen on board ship--and of Arngeir and
+Arnbiorn--Arnolfr had been slain in the dwelling house--and they found
+Vandrad the Skald at the point of death.
+
+Then he told Halfred how Sudha had prevailed upon him to speak, and
+begged him to forgive him the death of so many heroes. And Halfred held
+his hand until he was dead.
+
+But Dame Harthild's body they did not find, although many of her women
+lay burnt or slain in the dwelling-house.
+
+But many bodies were so burnt and charred they could not be recognised.
+
+And then they turned their search to the ships.
+
+And all the ships of the foreign guests were burnt, and all those of
+the Icelanders which lay in the bay. For at the last, by reason of
+Halfred's furious attack, no one had thought any more about
+extinguishing them.
+
+And Halfred, with his trumpet, hailed the Singing Swan, which floated
+saved in the moonlight, and went on board with his little troop.
+
+And there lay slain many hundreds of Halfred's Icelanders,
+
+The foreign guests, however, who had come to the midsummer feast, lay
+all all dead, save only Hartvik and Eigil.
+
+And Halfred counted when he called all hands before the mast still
+seventy men alive.
+
+All the rest had fallen in that one midsummer night. And there fell
+after that wild tumult an awful stillness upon land and sea. And sad
+and silent floated the Singing Swan, with scorched sails, upon the
+Fjord.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+And Halfred has sunk into deep deep silence. Since the fight had ended,
+and he had heard Vandrad's dying words, he had not spoken a word.
+
+But when it was full daylight the Singing Swan drew near the land, and
+the men came ashore.
+
+Silently Halfred signed to his sailing comrades to carry out all the
+bodies from the drinking hall, the dwelling-house, and the ships; and
+to collect them altogether on the shore. He had seven funeral piles
+erected, and upon these all the dead were burned with their weapons.
+The ashes, however, of friends and foes Halfred ordered them to mingle.
+
+And these he poured himself into a great stone-lined grave which he had
+had dug on the shore, hard by the water line. And he had earth heaped
+thickly upon them, and a huge black block of stone which had once been
+thrown out of Hekla rolled thereon. And this cost many days work.
+
+But Halfred spoke not. And all through the nights he sat upon the grave
+and looked now upwards to the stars of the summer night, now downwards
+rigidly upon the earth, and the stone grave. And gently gently he
+oftimes shook his head.
+
+But he spoke no word.
+
+And when after seven nights the sun arose, Hartvik and Eigil drew near
+to him, as he sat upon the stone, and then Hartvik spoke--
+
+
+"Halfred, my blood brother, a great calamity has befallen to thee, to
+me, to us. Father and sister and many friends have I lost, and Eigil
+has also lost many who were dear to him. We must bear it, all three.
+Come, Halfred, Sigskald, arouse thyself! This silence and brooding is
+evil. Dwelling-house and Mead hall the fire has burnt--the axe will
+build them up. Harps, there are many still upon the earth, and the
+Singing Swan spreads out her hardly singed pinions. Come, Halfred,
+drink! Here I have brought thee from the Greek spoils of the Singing
+Swan a cup of Chios wine, which thou ever lovedst. Drink, speak, and
+live!"
+
+
+Halfred stood up with a sigh, took the cup from Hartvik's hand, and
+poured the wine slowly upon the grave; the earth drank it greedily in.
+
+
+"Come hither again about midnight. Then will I give ye an answer. I
+cannot even yet think clearly. Once more will I ask the gods who dwell
+in the stars if they even yet deny me an answer."
+
+
+And he sat down again upon the stone, and covered his face with his
+hands.
+
+And when about midnight the two came, Halfred pointed towards the
+heavens--
+
+
+   "There are so many thousand thousand stars, but they are all dumb to
+ me.
+    Unceasingly, for seven days and nights, have I asked myself, and
+ asked the stars, wherefore have the Gods allowed this awful thing to
+ happen?
+    Is it a crime that I vowed a vow, such as many which are vowed in
+ the north?
+    Hundreds of women had heard it without resentment.
+    Is it my crime that Dame Harthild was differently minded?
+    And it was no lie that I bore love to her, on that night.
+    Love's fulness truly it was not--as Sudha named it.
+    That may be. Never knew I love's fulness.
+    And be it so. If the Gods hate me for an evil deed, wherefore do
+ they not punish me alone?
+    Wherefore let others--so many others--suffer and atone for
+ _my_ sin?
+    Wherefore should King Hartstein perish, and many other princes,
+ and thousands of men from all coasts and islands?
+    Wherefore should Dame Harthild perish, whom they would have
+ avenged, and our unborn son?
+    How have all these sinned? Answer me, ye two, if ye know more than
+ do I and the stars?"
+
+
+But his blood brethren were silent, and Halfred continued--
+
+
+   "Yet there must be Gods!
+    Who has else bound the giants, calmed the sea, levelled the earth,
+ arched the heavens, and strewn the stars? Who else guides the battle?
+ and how, after death, come mighty heroes to Valhalla, and the evil to
+ the dark serpent hell?
+    For that awful fearful thought which already from afar has come
+ darkly into my mind, that perhaps no Gods live! I will think it no
+ more.
+   There must be Gods. I cannot cannot think otherwise, and my
+ throbbing brain is driven to frenzy.
+    And if there are Gods, they must be also good, and wise, and
+ mighty, and just.
+    Else it would be indeed yet more frightful to think that beings,
+ mightier and wiser than mankind, delighted in the misery of men,
+ like an evil urchin who for sport impales a captured beetle.
+    This, therefore, one dare not think,--neither, indeed,--that
+ there are no Gods, or that there are evil Gods.
+    And therefore will I in devout submission endure this awful calamity,
+ waiting till, in the course of years, I guess this riddle also. So hard
+ an one was never yet set before me.
+    But ye, ye faithful ones, who stood by me to the death, and spared
+ not your own kindred, and have lost your nearest through me; ye will I
+ never forsake, all my life long; and great gratitude will I bear ye,
+ and my dearest shall ye be for evermore. For ye alone will I live."
+
+
+Then spake Hartvik--
+
+
+"Not thus must thou speak, Halfred. The harp thou shalt again strike
+victoriously, the hammer shalt thou again joyously wield under the blue
+heavens of Greece. The blood of the vine shalt thou quaff, and a woman
+more enchanting than----"
+
+Then Halfred sprang up from the black stone--
+
+
+  "Silence, Hartvik: Thou blasphemest.
+   Who is stricken so heavily as I, by the hatred of the Gods, who
+ live and are just, he stands as a lightning-blasted tree by the way.
+ Birds sing not upon it, the dew moistens it not, the sun kisses it
+ not.
+   How should I sing and laugh, drink and kiss, through whom hath
+ fallen upon so many thousand men and women utter destruction, or the
+ sorrow of death for evermore?
+   No, otherwise have I vowed to myself.
+   Long did I doubt if I still could live, after such a calamity as
+ the Gods have laid upon this head, and I could not, did I not believe
+ in good Gods, and tarry for the solving of this riddle.
+   But joy and happiness have no more part in Halfred Hamundson. I
+ renounce them for ever."
+
+
+And he kneeled down, and took from his breast pouch a leathern bottle,
+which was filled with white ashes. And slowly he strewed them all over
+his long flowing black locks, and his face, and breast, and body.
+
+
+  "Hear me, ye good all ruling Gods, and ye glittering all seeing
+ stars of heaven; and of men-kind upon earth, Hartvik and Eigil, my
+ blood brethren!
+   Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I have
+ drawn down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and
+ strangers, I renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and
+ the love of women.
+   To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here
+ cover myself upon their grave mound, do I belong; and among the
+ living, to my faithful blood brethren.
+   And if I break this solemnly sworn vow, then be Dame Harthild's
+ curse wholly fulfilled."
+
+
+And the stars and his friends in silence heard his vow.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+And Halfred kept his word.
+
+Year after year passed away--he told me he no longer knew how often.
+Meanwhile midsummer returned--and Halfred lived a life which was as a
+living death.
+
+Hartvik and Eigil commanded the Singing Swan, and ruled their sailing
+comrades. They chose the design, the port, and the course of their
+voyages. Halfred without word, wish, or choice, let everything be.
+
+Only, when the south wind grew too strong for Hartvik's hand, Halfred
+strode silently to the helm, and steered until the sea was calm again.
+
+Also, when Vikings attacked the ship, Halfred had forbidden that the
+Singing Swan, either by sea or land, should do harm to any--and the
+danger became overwhelming, Halfred silently--he raised the battle cry
+no more--grasped his hammer, and dashed among the enemy until they gave
+way.
+
+But he wielded his hammer only with his left hand--his shield he had
+laid aside--and neither with helmet nor mail did he protect his head
+and breast.
+
+And throughout the whole year he wore the garment which on that
+midsummer night smoke, flame and blood had darkly dyed.
+
+When the Singing Swan drew near the land--the black flame marks on the
+wings none were allowed to efface--and Hartvik and Eigil and the
+sailors went to the halls of kings, Halfred stayed lying upon deck, and
+kept guard over the ship.
+
+And he drank only water out of a cup of the bitter juniperwood.
+
+Eigil brought once, from a king's halls where the Sigskald of yore had
+often been a guest, a splendid golden harp, which the queen, in
+greeting to her old friend, had sent as a present.
+
+But as the ship turned out of the bay the harp, with a light rush,
+glided into the sea.
+
+And once Halfred lay at midsummer in Iceland, on the shore by the black
+stone--for every midsummer night he spent alone there, his friends must
+remain on the ship--and looked very very sad. For his face had grown
+very pale.
+
+Then there came a woman, and a wonderfully beautiful maiden, who was
+her daughter, and stood before him; and he turned away his face, but
+the mother spoke--
+
+
+"I know thee, even yet, Halfred Sigskald. I can never forget thy face,
+although the smile of Oski no longer plays thereon, and though the
+furrows on thy brow are deeply scored as with a plough. This maiden
+dids't thou, fifteen years ago, lay in my arms a sleeping child. See
+how beautiful she has become, as no other in all Iceland. And this
+wreath of summer flowers has she twined for thee. Set it upon thy pale
+brow, and thou shalt be healed, for gratitude has woven it."
+
+
+Then Halfred sprang up, took the wreath from the beautiful blushing
+maiden's hand, lifted with mighty force the huge block upwards, threw
+the wreath under it, and let the black stone fall heavily in its place
+again.
+
+The mother and maiden, weeping, departed.
+
+And during these years Halfred spoke hardly to any, save Hartvik and
+Eigil, and to them only when he must.
+
+And what he said was weak and mournful.
+
+And his voice had become very low.
+
+And he was very kind to everyone, above all to those below him.
+
+And often in the night the sailors heard him sigh, and turn himself
+upon the straw bed upon the deck, where always, even in the cold
+winter, he lay under the stars.
+
+And they heard him often speak when there was no one at hand with whom
+he could talk.
+
+And at table he rested his head upon his left hand, and kept his eyes
+cast downwards, or looked into the far far distance.
+
+And he almost never complained, only he often shook his head gently,
+and pressed very very often his left hand upon his breast, and said
+many times--
+
+"The fresh air of heaven shuns me. I cannot breathe. If I will breathe
+I must sigh. My heart is almost crushed."
+
+And Hartvik and Eigil said one to the other--"He is ill."
+
+And once, when they sailed to Greece, Hartvik secretly called a
+physician--they are very skilful there--and the physician watched
+Halfred many days and nights, and said--
+
+"It is a heavy malady under which this poor man suffers.
+
+"And many have already quietly died of it, or sunk into madness.
+
+"We call it 'Melancholy.'"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+And the Singing Swan sailed again into the western seas, in the late
+spring and early summer, at the time which the Latins call "Mensus
+Madius."
+
+And because of the long voyage the provisions were exhausted, and the
+ship also needed rest and repairing.
+
+And Halfred's blood brethren said to him, when they came into the
+waters of the island of Hibernia--
+
+"Both men and stores need caring for: we will land at King Thorul's sea
+castle, and provide all that we need on board. Far famed is King
+Thorul's hall; there they have great skill on the harp. Come with us to
+the city; rejoice thy heart in human fellowship, for there thou cans't
+not, as heretofore, lie upon the ship. Even to the Singing Swan will
+many people come, workmen and traders, and thou wouldst not be alone
+under thy stars. Shall we not steer for the green island?"
+
+And Halfred nodded, and Hartvik joyfully turned the helm sharp to the
+west.
+
+When, however, they saw the towers of Thorul's hall rise from the waves
+in the morning light, Halfred, with his own hand, lowered the smaller
+boat, which lay fastened on the deck near the helm, and said--
+
+"When ye have rejoiced yourselves at King Thorurs court, and have
+provided for the ship, seek me, after twenty nights, on yonder small
+rocky island."
+
+And he took arrow, and bow, and fishing hook, sprang into the boat, and
+rowed to the island.
+
+But, the Singing Swan sailed further to the west.
+
+And Halfred landed upon the small rocky island; he found a fitting bay,
+and drew his boat high up upon the white sand of the shore.
+
+And then there came floating to him on the air something which was
+strange and yet well known to him. Only under the golden stars of
+Greece and Rome had he ever heretofore enjoyed the intoxication of such
+fragrance.
+
+There is, that is to say, a flower of the delicate hue of a maiden's
+cheek, "Rosa" the Latins call it, and its fragrance is as the kiss of
+pure maiden lips.
+
+And this flower had the Roman heroes, so long as they were powerful in
+these western lands, carefully tended in their houses and gardens. Long
+since, however, had the Roman heroes vanished, their stately dwellings
+were abandoned and ruined, their gardens grown wild.
+
+And wild also had grown the maiden tinted flower which they call Rosa,
+and had spread all over the island, and flourished luxuriantly
+everywhere, and breathed forth a strong intoxicating perfume.
+
+On these small islands which lie round about the great western island
+of Hibernia, the air is always mild; the snow seldom there remains
+lying on the land, and only slightly, and for a short time are the
+streams frozen.
+
+And the singing birds which elsewhere retreat before the frost, rest
+for the winter in these retreats, where meadows, shrubs, and trees,
+remain green even in the severest seasons. For it rains often there,
+and moist is the breath of the billows rolling around.
+
+And the heathen people, therefore, call these islands "Baldur's
+Islands," for Baldur they name the God of the spring dawning.
+
+And as Halfred climbed up the hill from the shore, all the underwood
+and sweet-springing thorns were in full bloom; white thorn and red
+thorn and black thorn and the wild roses.
+
+And also the many splendid fruit trees which the Roman heroes had
+brought with them from the south and the east, were in full bloom.
+
+And from every shrub and tree resounded the sweet tones of the grey
+brown singing bird, which the Latins call "Luscinia," the Greeks
+"Philomela," but we, the "Nightingale."
+
+And Halfred strode upwards and inland, by the side of a clear rapid
+stream, which flowed over white pebbles, through light green copsewood.
+On the height he came to a transparent copse of alders, young beeches,
+and slender white birches. There lovely broad-winged butterflies
+flitted over the beautiful flowers in the sunny glades. Deep in the
+thicket sang the thrush. The tops and pliant boughs of the birches
+nodded and waved.
+
+And then there came to him, borne on the morning wind, yet other sounds
+than the song of the nightingale, far clearer and softer, as from the
+lightly-touched strings of a harp; but which sounded far more beautiful
+than any harp playing, either of his own or any other Skald, which he
+had ever heard.
+
+And from high above, as if from heaven, the tones appeared to come.
+Halfred followed the sounds, which powerfully moved and allured him.
+
+No sound since the last dying shriek of his harp had reached his soul
+through his ears. These harp tones aroused his soul. He believed that
+elves or Bragi, the song God, were harping in the air.
+
+He wished not to scare the singer, but to listen. Softly he passed on,
+choosing his steps; the wood-grass betrayed him not, for it was soft,
+long, and thick.
+
+He had now come quite near to the sound, yet still he saw not the
+singer. Cautiously he parted the thick white thorn bushes, and
+perceived then a small green mound, upon which stood in a circle six
+beeches. But the seventh, the tallest, stood in the centre, and towered
+above them all; and around its trunk wound an ornamental staircase made
+of white wood; and made of the same white wood there was a slight
+platform fitted in where the broad branches of the beech spread
+themselves out. The railing of both staircase and platform was
+ingeniously carved.
+
+From this airy bower floated down the wonderful tones.
+
+Halfred drew nearer, and spied through the branches and the crevices of
+the platform. His heart throbbed high with amazement, awe, and
+yearning.
+
+There he saw the player.
+
+On the railing leaned a boy who was wonderfully beautiful, so
+beautiful, Halfred said to me, that never had he seen such beauty upon
+earth--so beautiful as the elves must be, in which the heathen people
+believe.
+
+He was altogether white--his slender face was white as the stone which
+the Greeks call "Alabaster;" the folded garment which reached from his
+neck to his knees was white, and white were the leathern shoes upon his
+feet.
+
+But the eyes and hair of the boy were like gold.
+
+And Halfred said to me that the eyes were the golden brown of the
+eagle's eyes. In the shining hair, however, which a net of the same
+colour confined, instead of a hat, played hither and thither, bright
+sun-tinted gleams, as though a sunbeam had lost itself therein, and now
+vainly sought to find an outlet.
+
+And the boy played upon a small three-sided stringed instrument, such
+as only the Skalds of Hibernia carry, and played a wholly unknown
+melody.
+
+And he played and sang so beautifully, that Halfred had never yet heard
+such playing and singing; mournful and yet blissful at the same time,
+was the melody, like the pain of yearning, which yet for no pleasure of
+the earth would the heart resign.
+
+And Halfred told me that for the first time since that midsummer night
+a warm breath passed again over his soul.
+
+And the beautiful boy in the airy bower enchained his eyes, and the
+mournful yearning song entranced his soul.
+
+And for the first time, for many, many years, his breast could heave
+with a full drawn breath.
+
+And tears filled his eyes, and restored and healed him, and made him
+young once more, like cool dew upon the heath after a burning sun.
+
+And at the close of every two lines the words of the song rang
+harmoniously together, like--and yet again not altogether entirely
+like--as though two voices sought each other in sound and echo.
+
+Or as when man and woman, one and yet two, are folded together in a
+kiss.
+
+The boy sang in the soft lisping Irish language, which Halfred well
+knew. But that closing concord had he never heard, and it resounded far
+more pleasingly upon the ear than did the dead consonant staves of the
+Skalds.
+
+And this was the boy's song,--
+
+
+     "On light slender branches blowing
+      White rose yearns through May's young bloom--
+      Sun God, 'tis for thee I'm glowing,
+      When wilt thou, thy bright face showing,
+      Quaff full deep my fresh perfume?
+      When wilt thou, for ardour sighing,
+      Greet my flowers in trembling bliss?
+      Come, and must I rue thee dying,
+      Leave within my chalice lying,
+      Fiery sweet, thy fervid kiss."
+
+Here closed the boy's song and playing with a clear resounding chord on
+the strings.
+
+And as soon as he ceased, and had hung his harp on the boughs, lo!
+there came flying from the nearest shrub two snow-white doves, which
+lighted one on the right, the other on the left shoulder of the boy,
+who smiling stroked their heads, and slowly, thoughtfully, with
+stately, and yet almost timed step, came down the white wooden stairs,
+and stood upon the beautiful flowery turf of the greenwood glade.
+
+Halfred dreaded that he might terrify the gentle harper if he stepped
+suddenly out of the thicket before him.
+
+Therefore he called to him first, from a distance, in a soft voice,
+slowly drawing nearer.
+
+"Hail, gentle boy! If thou art mortal, may the Gods be gracious to
+thee. If thou art thyself a God, or as I surmise one of the light
+elves, then be not ungracious to me, a mortal man."
+
+Then the boy turned slowly towards him, without seeming to be
+terrified, or even surprised, and as Halfred now drew nearer, he said
+in a melodious vibrating voice--
+
+"Welcome, Halfred. Art thou come at last? I have tarried long for
+thee."
+
+And he offered him both hands; the glance of the golden eyes sinking
+deep into Halfred's soul.
+
+Halfred, however, dared not to touch those hands. He felt, from the
+very depths of his being, a quickening warmth uprise, and send rippling
+through body and soul a quiver of delight--of joy in surpassing
+beauty--but also of holy awe, as in the presence of gods or spirits;
+for he had no longer any doubt that it was no earthly being who stood
+before him.
+
+Voice and breath almost failed him as he asked--
+
+"Who hath proclaimed to thee Halfred's coming, and name!"
+
+"The moonlight."
+
+"Then art thou indeed, as I had already perceived, the prince of the
+light elves, to whom moon and stars speak words. Be gracious to me, O
+loveliest of the Gods."
+
+Then the boy smiled. "I am a child of earth, like thyself, Halfred.
+Draw nearer. Take my hands."
+
+"But who art thou, if thou art mortal!" asked Halfred, still
+hesitating.
+
+"Thoril, King Thorul's orphan grandchild."
+
+"And wherefore dwellest thou here alone, on this small island, as
+though hidden, and not in King Thorul's hall?"
+
+"He dreamed thrice that danger threatened me, in the month when the
+wild roses blow; a strange ship which should come into his harbour
+would carry me away, never to be seen again.
+
+"To render me quite safe against this danger he sent me here to this
+small outlying island, at which, because of its circling cliffs, no
+ship can land. Only Moengal, his ancient armour-bearer, and his wife,
+my foster-mother, are with me; yonder, in that small wooden house,
+behind the beech mound, we live. But so long as the dear lord shines,
+and the gay butterflies flit over the flowers, I tarry here in hidden
+airy bower."
+
+"But, thou wonderful boy, if thou art really a child of earth, how
+could the moon reveal to thee my coming and my name?"
+
+"I sleep not in the moonlight, because it entices me out and upwards.
+It lifts me by force from my couch, and upwards to itself. With closed
+eyes, they say, I wander then away on the narrowest ridges of the roof;
+and far away, through forest and mountain, I see what shall happen in
+the future, and the distance.
+
+"Carefully they guarded me, therefore, in the king's hall. But here, the
+clear moon looks freely through the rifts in our cottage roof.
+
+"And I saw, seven nights ago, a ship, with a swan on the prow, that drew
+nearer and nearer. On the deck lay sleepless a dark-bearded man, with a
+noble countenance. 'Halfred,' his two friends called him.
+
+"And ever nearer floated the sailing Swan. But when, one cloudy night,
+the moon shone not upon my pillow, and my eyes could not see the ship,
+and the man, then yearning seized upon me for that noble countenance.
+And I laid my pillow and my head, since then, ever carefully under the
+full flood of the moonlight. And night after night I gazed again on
+that lofty forehead and these palid temples.
+
+"But still more beautiful and lordly art thou, than thy dream picture;
+and never have I seen a man to equal thee."
+
+"But thou," cried Halfred, seizing both the singer's hands, "art like
+Baldur in spring beauty, gentle boy.
+
+"Never have I seen such perfect charm in youth or in maiden. Like
+sunshine upon chilled limbs, like Chios wine through parched throat,
+flows thy beauty through my eyes deep into my soul. Thou art as the
+blackbird's song and the wood flowers: as the evening star in golden
+clouds; thou art as the most wonderful song which ever resounded from
+the lips of a Skald; thyself, as thou livest and movest, thou art pure
+poetry.
+
+"O Thoril, golden boy, how gentle thou art! how thou hast quickened my
+grief-worn heart. O Thoril, leave me never again!
+
+"Take up once more thy magic harp; uplift once more that sweet song,
+which has awakened my soul from the sleep of death.
+
+"O come, let me lay my heavy head upon thy knee, and gaze in thy sunny
+wondrous face, while thou tunest thy harp, and playest and singest."
+
+And thus they both did.
+
+And trustfully flew one of the doves from Thoril's hand to Halfred's
+broad shoulder, and cooed lovingly to the other.
+
+And when the song was ended, Halfred seized again the two hands of the
+boy, and drew them slowly slowly over his forehead, and his moist eyes.
+
+And it all was as it stands written in the sacred books of the Jews, of
+the King full of sadness and heaviness, who could only be healed by the
+harp-playing of the son of Jesse.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+And this lasted many days; and upon Halfred's forehead the lines and
+furrows disappeared, one after another. And once more he could draw a
+deep full breath without sighing.
+
+And he carried his head again proudly erect, when he did not purposely
+bend down to look into the golden eyes of the boy, which ever again and
+again he did.
+
+And so much did Halfred dread to lose Thoril again, that he never left
+his side the live-long day. And because Thoril's couch and sleeping
+chamber were, as he said, so small that Halfred could not share them,
+he lay before the door upon the threshold.
+
+Nevertheless he still could not sleep; but now, because with ardent
+yearning he listened to the breathing of the sleeper. And with the
+earliest dawn of morning he would rouse Thoril from sleep and his
+sleeping chamber.
+
+And it seemed as if the old gift of Oski was given back to Halfred,
+the winning of all hearts. For the two guardians of the boy, who
+full of mistrust had seen the strange man approach their cottage,
+holding Thoril's hand--the ancient Moengal had rushed at him with a
+spear--were at once gentle and won, when he begged, with the old smile
+of Oski--"Let me be healed at Thoril's golden eyes."
+
+But on the thirtieth day--the time when the Singing Swan should come
+for him was long passed, but Halfred thought not of that--the two went
+out with hooks and lines to catch fish. For Moengal's provisions were
+exhausted.
+
+In the midst of the island lay a dark lake, surrounded by steep high
+cliffs. But from the lake a streamlet flowed to the open sea. In a
+small boat they could row upon this lake, and down the streamlet to the
+sea. And there were many splendid fish called silver salmon in the
+lake, and in the stream, and even down in the salt sea.
+
+And Halfred and Thoril rowed over the lake the whole morning, and laid
+ground hooks and nets.
+
+And when, towards mid-day, the heat burned more and more fiercely down
+upon them, Halfred said--
+
+"Come away from this shadeless depth. There above, on the cliff, I see
+falling the glittering spray of a silver rill--amidst alders, amidst
+wild roses it springs. There above, it is cool and shady. Easily shall
+we find a grotto in the rock. I long for that fresh spring water. And
+there above, to the left, nod dark sweet berries--they quench the
+thirst, and young boys love them. Let us climb up. I will gladly aid
+thee."
+
+And slowly they climbed the steep face of the cliff. Thoril now aided,
+now followed by Halfred.
+
+Then there floated to them, half-way up to the fountain, a strong
+perfume from a hollow linden tree, like wine, but it was wild honey
+which the wood-bees had gathered there.
+
+And Thoril dipped his forefinger deep in the bright thick mixture, and
+laid it upon Halfred's lips, and smiled at him, and said--
+
+"Take it. It is very sweet."
+
+And most enchanting he looked.
+
+Then Halfred exclaimed--
+
+"Such honey, so say the people, the Gods have laid upon my lips. Try if
+it is true."
+
+And he suddenly clapped Thoril's head, which was bent down towards him,
+with both hands, and kissed him on his full lips.
+
+Then both started asunder. A burning glow shot through Halfred's frame.
+But Thoril turned away his face, quivering slightly, and rapidly
+climbed up the cliff.
+
+Halfred paused, and drew a deep breath--
+
+Then he followed.
+
+"See, Thoril," cried Halfred halting, "this cavern, hollowed by the
+elves in the rock. The thick thorn bushes, with the perfumed red
+flowers, almost hide the entrance; and see there, how the brown
+nightingale on her nest guards the small doorway, and how the honey
+bees swarm around. Here will we stop and rest as we descend, when we
+have drunk above."
+
+But Thoril made no answer, and climbed more quickly upwards.
+
+They had still some fifty paces to climb upwards to the edge of the
+cliff whence the spring water fell in silver spray. Halfred was
+surprised that henceforward the boy went steadily on, turning his back
+to him, and if he sought to aid him in climbing, held on his course
+without looking round.
+
+Fiercely beat the noontide down upon the cliff; all around was deep
+silence; only blue flies darted buzzing through the sunshine, and from
+high in the heavens sounded often the shrill cries of soaring falcons,
+which with outspread pinions circled over their heads.
+
+They had now mounted so high that far away over the small island they
+could see, on three sides, beneath and around them, the blue sea
+appear.
+
+And the sea encircled the blooming island with its dark steel-blue arm,
+like a mail-clad hero a blooming women.
+
+But from the far west drew near a white sail.
+
+At last they had reached the height. Thoril stood above, hard by the
+waterfall, where scarcely could a pair of human feet find standing room
+upon the wet slippery crumbling stone.
+
+Beneath him, some five feet lower, Halfred halted, and looked towards
+him. "Give me to drink, I am parched with thirst," he cried to him.
+
+And Thoril drew from his fishing pouch a curved, silvery shining,
+mother of pearl shell. He raised himself on tiptoe, filled the shell to
+the brim, and turned to reach it down to Halfred. Then his foot slipped
+on the polished stone, vainly he tried to save himself, spreading out
+his arms on the bare rock wall. Halfred saw him falling downwards,
+straight upon himself, and opened wide his strong arms to receive the
+light burden. But lo!--a miracle. In the rapid fall the buckle broke
+which fastened over the breast Thoril's white linen garment; wide
+outspreading, down over the shoulders, fell the garment; at the same
+moment fell the net which confined the golden hair--a rich flood of
+waving tresses spread themselves over the shining neck and swelling
+breast.
+
+"A woman art thou? a maiden?" shouted Halfred exultingly. "Thanks to
+ye, O stars. Yes; this is Love's fullness."
+
+And the beautiful maiden hid her glowing cheeks in Halfred's neck.
+
+With a few strides he bore his light burden down to the grotto they had
+passed in climbing, and bending the branches of the rose bushes aside
+placed her safely within its shelter. The nightingale, which there sat
+singing on her nest, flew only to a short distance; and then returned
+and sang and warbled unceasingly. And the bees flew humming among the
+wild roses.
+
+And when the crimson glow of the evening sun shone over the island
+Halfred and Thoril descended the cliff. And now the girl's face was
+infinitely more beautiful than of yore. She wore her hair no longer in
+the net, but waving freely, so that like a mantle spun of threads of
+sunny gold it covered her from her throat to her knees. And instead of
+the lost buckle a small spray of the thorn bush, with a full blown
+rose, fastened her garment over the breast.
+
+Thus, hand in hand, they descended to the lake, and then Thora took
+from the boat her three-sided harp, and thus they wandered down by the
+streamlet which flowed from the lake to the sea, and on to the bay,
+towards the west.
+
+And the ship, which from the west had held her course towards the
+island, was the Singing Swan.
+
+There, at a short distance, she now lay at anchor in the bay; her sails
+shining brightly in the evening light. And the ship's boat glided over
+the water towards the shore, to bring Halfred and the smaller boat,
+rowed by Hartvik and Eigil.
+
+And the blood brethren sprang on shore, and marvelled greatly, when
+they saw Halfred stand there, hand in hand with a wonderfully beautiful
+woman. Silently their glances questioned him.
+
+But Halfred spoke, twining his arms round the slender girl--
+
+"This is Thora the golden-eyed. King Thorul's daughter.
+
+"She was hidden from me here, and clad in boy's clothing that I might
+not find her.
+
+"Nevertheless I have found her, according to the course of the stars and
+the will of the Gods--Love her as myself--for she is my wife."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+And now it was very wonderful to see what a wholly different man
+Halfred had became since he had won Thora.
+
+He threw off his tattered clothing, and clad himself in the most costly
+royal raiment of scarlet and rich gold, which lay stored away as a
+special treasure among the spoils of the Singing Swan.
+
+He quaffed the sparkling Chios wine from a silver cup, and eagerly
+pledged Thora in Freya's love.
+
+He played often upon her harp, and sang new songs far more beautiful
+and ardent, and moving according to a melody which he invented, and
+called "Thora's melody."
+
+And his youth seemed to be given back to him, for the deep furrows
+vanished from his forehead, his eyes, which had always been cast down,
+as though he revolved the past, or his own thoughts, now looked
+brightly upwards again, and around his lips again played joyously the
+smile of Oski.
+
+And he stirred not night or day from his young wife's side; and was
+never weary of stroking her long golden hair, or looking deep into her
+golden joyfully glistening eyes.
+
+But in the night he often held her high aloft in his arms, and silently
+showed her to the silent stars.
+
+And he had himself seized the helm, to turn the Singing Swan towards
+the south, for he said, "Thora shall see the islands of the blest, in
+the blue Grecian waters, where marble statues, white and slender as
+herself, look out from among evergreen laurels."
+
+And the flame marks on the Swan's wings were effaced, and mast and
+spars must always be wreathed with flowers, for Thora loved flowers.
+
+But the young wife had eyes for Halfred alone. She spoke but few words;
+but with sweet smiles she often whispered--
+
+"Yes, verily, thou art the Son of Heaven. Mortal men, such as I have
+often seen in my father's hall, could never be at once so strong and so
+gentle. Thou art like the sea a furious irresistible God, and withal a
+lovely dreaming child."
+
+And when she glided across the ship, all in snow white garments, and
+with her golden flowing hair, the men on the rowing benches sat with
+oars suspended, and Hartvik, at the helm, forgot to guide the ship's
+course, and followed her steps with wondering eyes.
+
+And when they drew near to land, and the people saw her hovering on the
+wings of the Singing Swan--where she loved to stand--they brought
+offerings of flowers, for they believed that Frigg, or Freya, had
+sailed in to visit them.
+
+And Halfred told me that she grew more beautiful from day to day.
+
+And in this wise passed four times seven nights.
+
+And Halfred was so infatuated and absorbed in Thora, that he did not in
+the least observe what was brewing among the sailors, or how his blood
+brethren, who held themselves aloof from him, whispered together.
+
+He heard once, as he remembered afterwards that Hartvik whispered to
+Eigil, "No I tell thee. He will never do it himself, or by free will.
+Therefore the physician must by force burn out the wound from the
+sufferer."
+
+He neither noticed nor understood these words. But soon afterwards he
+understood them.
+
+One clear moonlight night Halfred and Thora had already sought their
+couch in their chamber between the decks, from whence a small gangway
+and flight of steps led upwards, and Thora had fallen asleep. Ere
+Halfred fell asleep however, it seemed to him as though he detected
+that the Singing Swan was, very slowly certainly, but perceptibly
+turning. She groaned, as though resisting the pressure of the helm; and
+he thought that he heard, through the open gangway, the sound of many
+steps upon the deck, and of whispering voices, and now and again of
+weapons clashing.
+
+Instinctively he glanced towards the head of the couch; where his
+hammer hung, guarding his bride's pillow. The loop was empty. The
+hammer was missing.
+
+Quickly, but lightly, so as not to wake the sleeper, he sprang up the
+narrow stairs. He was just in time. Hartvik and Eigil were in the act
+to close the small trap door, which fastened over the gangway with a
+bolt, and thus confine the pair between decks. There, now, stood
+Halfred, his right foot on the deck, his left on the highest step.
+Hartvik and Eigil started up, and drew back a pace. Hartvik was leaning
+upon Halfred's hammer. The ship's crew stood armed in a half circle
+behind him. The helm also was surrounded by armed men, and had been
+turned. The ship no longer sailed towards the south-east, but held west
+north-west, and the sails were half-reefed.
+
+"What do ye here my blood brethren?" said Halfred, softly--for he
+thought of Thora--and was more amazed than angry. "Are ye mad, or have
+ye grown faithless."
+
+For a while all were silent, startled at Halfred's sudden appearance,
+whom they had believed to be sleeping soundly by Thora's side. But
+Hartvik recovered and spoke--
+
+"It is not we who are mad, or have grown faithless, but thou, our
+unhappy brother, under magic spell. We would have accomplished what
+must be done without it being possible for thee to hinder it. Thou
+shouldst only have trodden the deck again, when, against thine own
+will, thou wert restored to health.
+
+"Now, however, since thou hast too soon learnt this, hear what we, thy
+blood brethren and the most of those on board, assembled in ship's
+council, last night resolved--resolved for thy weal, although many
+opposed it, and would first have spoken with thee. Submit thyself
+peaceably, for it is unalterable as the course of the stars, and
+although thou art very strong, Halfred Hamundson, bethink thee, thou
+art weaponless, and we are seventy."
+
+Halfred was silent. Fearfully swelled his temple veins; but he thought
+of Thora. "She sleeps," he whispered. "Say softly what ye have to say.
+I listen."
+
+"Halfred, our dear blood brother," continued Hartvik softly. "Thou
+liest spell bound in the toils of a woman who--I will verily not revile
+her, for I love her more ardently than my own heart's blood--whatever
+she may be, a mortal woman undoubtedly is not.
+
+"Here works one of the strongest spells which ever witchcraft wove, and
+ever befooled the senses of men.
+
+"I blame her not as do many of our comrades.
+
+"She can do no otherwise. This is her very nature.
+
+"She is in truth an Elfin woman, or what the Irish call their white half
+Goddesses.
+
+"In the old Sagas it is told that there are such magic women, who,
+whether they will or not, wherever they come, bewitch the eyes and
+hearts of all men. In Herjadal lived such an one, seventy years ago,
+and there was no peace in the land until they had hung a mill stone
+about her neck, and sunk her where the Fjord is deepest.
+
+"That this woman is no mortal woman can any one see who only looks once
+in her white face, through which all the veins shine blue, and in the
+selfish glittering golden eyes. This alone were enough, without that
+which many among us have seen; how, lately, when the moon was full, she
+rose unperceived from thy side, and floated up upon deck and with
+closed eyes danced up and down upon the slightest wing feathers of the
+Singing Swan, like an elf in the moon rays. And when the moon went
+behind a cloud she glided just as lightly down to thee.
+
+"But this is the smallest part of her magic.
+
+"Not thee alone has her beauty ensnared. She hath so crazed all the
+ship's crew that they forget work and duty to gaze after her as she
+floats along.
+
+"Yes, even among us, blood friends, hath she kindled frightful sinister
+thoughts against thee, and against each other. I, who care not for
+women, and Eigil, who never thought of any woman save my burnt sister,
+we have lately by night confessed to each other that this silent white
+elf woman hath so fearfully crazed our senses, that each of us has
+already wished thy death, yes, would even have contrived it, in order
+to win this golden haired enchantress.
+
+"And when we confessed these same thoughts to each other, we were filled
+with shame.
+
+"Yet nevertheless each of us has plotted the death of the other.
+
+"There must be an end of this.
+
+"This slender sorceress shall not make men murderers in their thoughts,
+who have stood together through fire and blood.
+
+"We will not throw her overboard, as many of the crew in superstitious
+terror advise. Where would be the use? She would swim like a sea bird
+on the tops of the waves. But we will bear her back to the lonely
+island, where no eye of man can see her, and where no doubt wise gods
+had banished her. We would all possess her, and none shall have what
+each covets."
+
+Frightfully throbbed the veins in Halfred's temples, in his rage. "The
+first," he said, quite softly, through his gnashing teeth, "the first
+who lifts a hand, ay even a look towards her, I will tear his false
+heart from his living body."
+
+And so frightfully threatening was his face to behold that Hartvik and
+all the armed men drew back a couple of paces.
+
+But Eigil stepped forward again, and spoke in a louder voice than
+Hartvik had used.
+
+"Halfred, give way. We have sworn it. We will compel thee."
+
+"Ye compel me!" cried Halfred, also now in a louder voice. "Murder and
+revolt on board the Singing Swan! What saith the Viking code? Like a
+dog shall he hang by the neck at the mast head who secretly stirs up
+disobedience to the ship's lord."
+
+"To the ship's lord, yes, when madness crazes him not," shouted Eigil
+again.
+
+"Darest thou to speak of rights, Halfred Hamundson?
+
+"Only because madness and magic excuse thee, have we not long since
+asserted our rights against thee: thou, who every word and bond of
+right hast broken. We demand our rights. But thou hast no right to that
+woman.
+
+"Hast thou forgotten, Perjurer, that bloodstained midsummer night on
+Hamunds Fjord? Of that, in truth, thou hast not spoken, since, like a
+love sick boy, thou hast doted on this slender sorceress.
+
+"Thou hast forgotten it, but the seamen who sail by yonder spot, they
+see with horror the huge black Heckla Stone which there hides an awful
+catastrophe, and covers a fearful curse. But huge and heavy as it is,
+it cannot bury it. Demanding vengeance the shades of many thousand dead
+arise, who lie there, through thy crime, and with whom thou hast broken
+faith and oath.
+
+"For how did'st thou swear in that night?
+
+
+"Here I renounce, on account of the awful calamity which I have drawn
+down upon wife and child, and many hundred friends and strangers, I
+renounce for ever happiness and joy, song, wine, and the love of women.
+To the dead alone, slain for my crime, with whose ashes I here cover
+myself on their grave mound, do I belong, and among the living to my
+faithful blood-brethren. And if I break this solemnly-sworn vow, then
+be Dame Harthild's curse wholly fulfilled."
+
+
+"But thou carest no more for Gods or men, no more for us thy
+blood-brethren, who stood by thee to the death; who kept faith with
+thee against our own kindred; who defended thy head against King
+Hartstein's sword when thou layest defenceless as a child upon our
+knees; who for thee have slain our nearest kindred; for thee have given
+up sister and beloved.
+
+"Her also, whose voluptuous lips have kissed forgetfulness upon thy
+forehead, even her also has thy selfishness forgotten; for thou wilt
+bring destruction upon her, as surely as the Gods hear curses, and
+chastise perjury.
+
+"Doubtless thou hast never told the white armed enchantress what a
+fearful curse thou, with each kiss, art drawing down nearer and nearer
+upon her head."
+
+"Silence, Raven," cried Halfred, threateningly, paling with rage and
+dread.
+
+But Eigil continued, "Who knows if the golden eyes would not turn
+shuddering from thee did she know that upon thy head rests the curse of
+the wedded wife, burned through thee--of thy unborn murdered son. And
+thou hast exposed her as well as thyself to the fearful sentence--it
+will be fulfilled, for unerring is such deadly hate:
+
+
+"'Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them;
+
+"'Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them;
+
+"'Cursed be thy lying lips--They shall wither and smile no more;
+
+"'Yet a twofold curse shall rend thee both, if thou winnest again a
+woman's love.
+
+"'In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than
+thy soul.'"
+
+
+Here sounded a faint soul-harrowing moan from the open gangway.
+
+"Thou here!" cried Eigil, and paused.
+
+Halfred turned. There behind him stood Thora, not white as in general,
+but with crimson glowing head, like a poppy, her eyes gazing wildly
+upwards towards the moon and stars. Suddenly she uplifted both arms on
+high, as though to avert from Halfred's head some fearful stroke from
+the clouds. Then, once more, a faint but heart piercing moan, and she
+fell forwards upon her face, like a crushed flower. Blood flowed from
+her mouth. Halfred would have quickly raised her, but lifeless lay the
+slight form on his arms.
+
+"Dead," cried Halfred, "murdered! And ye have murdered her!"
+
+He let slip the ice-cold form, wrenched with one tremendous spring
+forwards his hammer from Hartvik, and swinging it on high, with one
+stroke of his arm brought it crashing down upon the heads of both his
+blood-brethren, so that brains, blood, and fragments of skulls were
+scattered all around.
+
+With that deed began a slaughter on board the Singing Swan like that of
+the midsummer night; only it was much shorter, because there were fewer
+to slay.
+
+It seemed to Halfred as though his temple veins had burst. He felt,
+instead of brains, only boiling blood in his head; he tasted blood in
+his mouth, he saw only red blood before his eyes. Without choosing,
+without asking who was for or against him, he sprang into the thickest
+of the crowd of armed men, seized man after man by the throat with his
+left hand, and shattered their skulls with the broad side of his
+hammer.
+
+He did not in the least perceive that a handful of men stood by him. He
+did not notice the many wounds he received on arms, face, and hands, in
+close combat with his despairing foes. He raged on and slew, until all
+whom he could see before him lay dead and silent upon the deck. Then he
+turned, still brandishing his hammer, and shouted--
+
+"Who besides Halfred still breathes on this accursed ship?"
+
+Then he saw that some six men of those who had aided him kneeled behind
+him. They had formed, with their shields, a half circle round Thora's
+body, and had turned off many a spear which would have reached the form
+of the white sorceress. Halfred perceived this.
+
+"Stand up," he said, with his left arm wiping away the blood and sweat
+from his forehead, and the white foam from his lips.
+
+He thrust the blood stained hammer into his belt, and kneeled beside
+Thora, pillowing on his breast her face, which had become whiter than
+ever before.
+
+"It was too much to bear and to hear at once. The frightful hailstones
+of this curse have struck the white rose too heavily."
+
+Then she opened her eyes, and murmured, "Not for me, only for thee,
+have the horrors of this curse overwhelmed me."
+
+"She lives! she lives! Praise to you, ye gracious Gods," exulted
+Halfred, "It could not be that she should die for the crimes of others.
+She must be healed, as surely as the Gods live. Had Thora perished for
+mine, for other men's guilt; with this hammer must I have slain all the
+Gods."
+
+And tenderly and softly, as a mother a sick child, the mighty man
+raised his young wife in both arms, and bore her, treading softly, down
+the steps.
+
+But once more before she left the deck, Thora opened her eyes. She saw
+Halfred stained all over with blood. She recognised, by their armour
+and clothing, the bodies of Hartvik and Eigil, with frightfully
+shattered heads. She saw the whole deck strewn with dead. She saw that
+only very few of the ship's crew were left, and shuddering, shrinking,
+she closed her eyes again.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+But Halfred kneeled day and night beside her couch. He held her languid
+hand; he listened to her faint breathing; he kissed from her lips the
+small drops of blood which often gathered there.
+
+He had the board which closed the gangway between the decks taken away,
+and heaven and the stars shone down upon Thora's pillow.
+
+When the day had gone ill, and much blood had flowed, and she fell
+asleep with the falling night, then he would mount a few steps, draw
+his hammer from his belt, and threaten the stars with furious words.
+
+"If ye let her die for others' guilt, then woe to you, ye Gods, woe to
+all who live."
+
+But had the sufferer gained strength, and smiled lovingly and
+peacefully on him; then this same ferocious man mounted upon the deck,
+kneeled down, and cried with outstretched arms, and tear-choked voice,
+
+"Praise, praise, to you, ye gracious Gods! I knew it, verily, that ye
+live and rule justly, and would not let her die for others' guilt."
+
+And if the day wavered between good and evil, between fear and hope,
+then he paced the narrow chamber with hasty steps and murmured
+inaudibly,
+
+"Are there Gods! are there Gods! are there gracious Gods?"
+
+And he believed that Thora heard this not, because she slept.
+
+But she lay often awake, with closed eyes, and understood it all, and
+it troubled her sorely, in waking and dreaming.
+
+And Halfred now told her, at her mute request, all about Dame Harthild,
+and the curse, and how all had happened.
+
+When he had ended she murmured shuddering, "Much has been fulfilled! If
+yet more should be fulfilled, unhappy Halfred."
+
+It seemed, however, that Thora was better.
+
+And Halfred resolved at once to carry her upon deck, that she might
+breathe the fresh air, and again behold the beauty of sea and heaven.
+
+And he had the deck carefully cleansed from all traces of the horrible
+fight, and ordered the sailors, the day before, to run into a coast
+which was bright with summer flowers, and commanded a whole mountain of
+flowers, as he said, to be piled upon the ship, for he would have her
+laid upon a hill of flowers.
+
+And the men obeyed; and the whole deck was so thickly strewn with
+flowers that nowhere was a bit of wood visible.
+
+And close by the mast rose a swelling couch of perfumed light
+wood-grass, and all the loveliest wood flowers, so high that it reached
+to Halfred's breast.
+
+Over this he spread a rich white linen mantle, and laid the heavily
+breathing form upon it.
+
+And again the moon was full, as on that night of the battle on the
+ship. But many storm-rent clouds were still driving across the heavens,
+and the sailing disk of the moon had not pierced through them.
+
+And it was midsummer night. The first that Halfred had not spent by the
+black Heckla Stone in Iceland.
+
+Thora had fallen asleep upon her flowers.
+
+Halfred had covered her with his own mantle. And he sat close by the
+flower hill, and looked into the noble, pale, all bloodless face, and
+then quietly before him again.
+
+"Ye have done all things well, ye merciful dwellers in the stars above.
+Ye have requited me, for that I never altogether doubted ye. I will not
+again question with ye, wherefore ye have ordained for me this second
+fearful thing, that I should be forced to slay my dear blood-brethren,
+and so many of the ship's crew.
+
+"Because ye have saved this wonderful flower, and have not suffered her
+guiltless, to perish for other's guilt, for ever will I bless ye.
+
+"And a song of praise will I compose for you, ye merciful and gracious
+Gods; such as never yet has resounded to your praise. Thanks to you, ye
+gracious Gods!"
+
+And thus musing he fell asleep; for it was many many nights since he
+had slept.
+
+Then a piercing cry awoke him, which seemed to ring from the stars.
+"Halfred." It fell upon his ear from high above.
+
+He started up from slumber, and looked upwards. There he saw what
+filled him with horror. The full moon had, while he slept, pierced the
+clouds, and shone with full radiance upon Thora's face. Now Halfred saw
+her, standing swaying, high on the slender cross-spars, many many feet
+above his head.
+
+Like a white ghost she shone in the moonlight; her widely opened eyes
+looked out into her future; her right hand she stretched, as though
+warding off, into the night. She did not hold fast by the slender
+towering mast, on whose giddying height naught else save the seabird,
+tossing, rested. And yet she stood firmly erect; but in her face was
+despairing woe.
+
+"O Halfred," she wailed, in a low tone of heart-rending anguish, "O
+Halfred--how distracted thy looks--how fearfully tangled hair and
+beard! Ah! how thine eye rolls--and half naked--like a Berseker, in
+shaggy wolf's skin. And how stained thou art with the blood of
+guiltless men. And why threatenest thou the fair-haired shepherd the
+light-hearted boy? Beware--beware the sling--guard thyself--turn thy
+head--the swing whistles--the stone flies--O Halfred--thine eye." And
+bending far forward she stretched, as though she would protect, both
+arms into the air. Now she must fall--so it seemed.
+
+"Fall not, Thora!" cried Halfred upwards.
+
+Then, as though lightning struck, swift as an arrow, with a wild
+shriek, she fell downwards from the giddy height of the mast.
+
+The white forehead struck upon the deck, her head and golden hair were
+bathed in blood.
+
+"Thora! Thora!" cried Halfred, and raised her up, and looked into
+her eyes. Then he fell senseless with her upon his face among the
+flowers--for she was dead.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+When Halfred raised himself again--he had already long since recovered
+consciousness, but not the power to rise--the sun was fast going down.
+
+He called the six seamen, who had held themselves shyly aloof in the
+stern and lower deck, and spoke, but his voice, he himself told me,
+sounded strange to him like that of another person.
+
+"She is dead. Slain for the sins of others.
+
+"There are no Gods.
+
+"Were there Gods I must have dashed out the brains of all of them, one
+by one, with this hammer.
+
+"The whole world, heaven and sea, and hell, I must have burned with
+consuming fire.
+
+"Nothing should any longer be, since Thora no longer is.
+
+"The world can I not destroy.
+
+"But the ships, and all that is upon it, I will burn--a great funereal
+pile for Thora.
+
+"Do as I say to ye."
+
+And he embedded with gentle hands, the dead Thora in the flower mound,
+so that almost nothing of her form and clothing were to be seen.
+
+And by his orders the six men were obliged to bring upon deck all the
+weapons, treasures, clothing, and provisions, which were stored in the
+hold of the Singing Swan.
+
+And Halfred heaped them around the mast upon the flower mound, and
+purple clothing, linen cloth, silken stuff, golden vessels, and soft
+cushions, he piled up all round about.
+
+Then he poured ship's tar over all, and covered it with withered
+brushwood, and dry chips from the kitchen.
+
+And he ordered all sail to be set--a strong warm south wind was
+blowing--
+
+Then he mounted upon the upper deck, and overlooked all.
+
+And he nodded his head, well satisfied. And then he descended to the
+kitchen, to bring up a burning brand.
+
+When he came up again he found that the sailors had lowered the two
+ship's boats, the larger and the smaller boat, they lay tossing by the
+boat ropes, to the right and left of the Singing Swan.
+
+"Hasten, my lord," cried one of the seamen to him; "so soon as thou
+hast thrown the torch, to spring into a boat; for rapidly, in this
+gale, will the Singing Swan flame up, and easily might the fire seize
+the boats, and cause both thee and all of us to perish."
+
+Halfred looked with staring eyes at the man "Would ye still live, after
+ye have seen this?
+
+"Think ye that I will live without Thora? after the guiltless for
+other's,--for my crime,--hath died?
+
+"No, with me shall ye all on this ship burn--truly a worthless funeral
+pile for Thora."
+
+"Thou shalt not destroy us, guiltless. Forbid it, Gods!" cried the man,
+and sprang upon Halfred, to wrest the firebrand from him.
+
+But with a fearful blow of his fist Halfred struck him down upon the
+deck.
+
+Laughing shrilly, he shouted, "Gods! Who dare still to believe in Gods,
+when Thora, guiltless, has died?
+
+"There are no Gods, I tell ye.
+
+"Were there Gods, I must have slain them all.
+
+"And I will slay, as my deadly enemy, whosoever declares that he still
+believes in Gods."
+
+Furiously he brandished the firebrand in his left hand, the hammer in
+his right, and cried to the trembling sailors--
+
+"Choose--If ye believe that there are Gods, then I will strike ye down
+like this too forward comrade.
+
+"But if ye renounce the Gods, then may ye live, and depart, and bear
+witness everywhere that there are no Gods.
+
+"Are there Gods?" shouted the maniac, drawing near to the trembling
+men.
+
+"No, my lord; there are no Gods," cried the men, and fell upon their
+knees.
+
+"Then go--and leave me alone to my own will."
+
+Quickly the seamen descended into the larger boat on the left.
+
+Halfred, however, stuck the hammer in his belt, and strode with rapid
+steps hither and thither upon the deck, and set fire to mast and sail,
+and purple clothing and carved work, and to the neck of the Swan on the
+prow-wailing, the wind passed once more through the curved wings of the
+Swan.
+
+The strong south wind fanned the crackling flames; quickly was the
+ship, on all sides, wrapped in a glowing blaze. The sails streamed like
+fiery wings from the mast.
+
+Silently, with folded arms, Halfred sat upon the upper deck, his eyes
+rigidly fixed upon the flower mound.
+
+Swift as an arrow flew the burning ship before the wind. The fire had
+rapidly consumed the dried wood grass, and Thora's form and face were
+fully visible. Then Halfred saw how the scorching flames seized upon
+Thora's long floating golden hair. "That was the last thing," he said
+to me, "that I saw for a long time."
+
+In unutterable anguish he sprang up, and rushed all along the burning
+ship, straight through the flames, to Thora, He sprang upon the flower
+mound to embrace the body.
+
+Then he felt a frightful blow upon his head, and left eye. The half
+burned mast had fallen with a crash upon him; he was dashed upon his
+face among the flowers and the flames, and darkness closed over him.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+When Halfred again awoke he lay in the bottom of a small boat, which
+drove over the open sea.
+
+His hammer lay at his right hand. A cruise of water stood at his left
+hand. Two oars were in the stem of the boat.
+
+Halfred started up to look around him.
+
+Then he perceived that he could only see with difficulty what was on
+his left side. He felt for his left eye, and found a bleeding cavity. A
+splinter of the mast had struck it out, and a stabbing pain beat
+through his brain, which he said never again left him as long as he
+lived.
+
+He looked at his body. In charred rags his burnt clothing hung upon
+him. Far in the distance he saw a craft which he recognized as the
+larger boat of the Singing Swan.
+
+The Singing Swan herself had disappeared; but away to the south there
+lay a cloud of vapour and smoke over the sea.
+
+The boat in which Halfred stood he recognised as the smaller boat of
+the Singing Swan. Evidently his sailing comrades had dragged the
+half-burned maniac from the burning ship, and saved him.
+
+They had abandoned him to the Gods whom he had blasphemed, and in whom
+they believed, to be saved by them, or perish. But no more fellowship
+would they have with a man stricken by the heaviest of curses--madness.
+
+For mad Halfred was, from the hour when he sprang into the flames, and
+the mast struck him, until shortly before his death.
+
+Therefore could he only tell me very little of all that in the meantime
+happened either to, or through him.
+
+But what he did tell me, here I faithfully write down.
+
+But many many years must he have wandered in madness.
+
+He told me, moreover, that he saw only before his eyes how Thora fell
+from the mast; and how the flames seized her head and hair. And that he
+could only think one single thought. "There are no Gods. Were there
+Gods I must have slain them.
+
+"So must I slay all human beings who believe in Gods; for blotted out
+from the earth shall be the name and remembrance of the Gods."
+
+And he could not die until he had slain the last man who still believed
+in the Gods.
+
+And thus he journeyed all about, everywhere, in his small ship; landed
+in bays and upon islands, lived upon game which he hunted, or upon
+domestic animals which he found in the fields, upon roots and wild
+berries from the woods, upon eggs of sea-birds, and mussels from the
+rocks.
+
+And often the storm waves broke high over his boat, and shattered her
+planks. But she sank not, nor was he drowned.
+
+And one day he saw he was wholly naked, the last charred rags had
+fallen from him. He was chilled, and when he met a wolf in the wood, he
+ran after him so long that he overtook him, slew him with his hammer,
+took off his skin, and hung it round his loins.
+
+And thus he roamed and sailed, half naked, all about the north. And
+none recognised in the maniac Berseker, Halfred Sigskald, the son of
+Oski.
+
+And he told me that when he chanced upon mankind, whither they were
+many or few, he sprang upon them, and shouted to them his question.
+
+"Are there Gods?"
+
+And if they said "Yes," or as the most did, gave him no answer, then he
+slew them all with his hammer. But if they said "No," as also many
+did--for it was already rumoured throughout the whole north, that a
+naked giant wandered through all lands with this question, whom the
+people called "God destroyer"--or if they took to flight, then he let
+them live.
+
+And often, from dread, the peasants and the women gave him fruit,
+bread, milk, and other food. Many however bound themselves in a league
+to go out and slay him, as a wild beast. But they could not stand
+before the fury and strength of the maniac. He killed the bold, the
+timorous fled.
+
+He slept hardly at all at night, therefore they could not surprise him
+in his sleep.
+
+Once, when he spent the night in the bam of a peasant, who had
+previously renounced the Gods, with all his household, the people from
+the court barricaded the straw-filled bam, and set fire to it. But
+Halfred burst through the roof, dashed through the flames and arrows,
+which could not pierce his body, and slew them all with his hammer.
+
+And this maniac wandering endured many years.
+
+And sea storms, and burning suns, and autumn frosts, and winter ice,
+beat upon Halfred's half-naked body.
+
+And his hair and beard stood out like a mane around him.
+
+But no longer dark, as when of yore he trod, as a wooer. King
+Harstein's courts--but snow white. In a single night--the night when
+Thora died--his hair had become white.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+And after many years he came sailing in his rotten boat over the seas
+which play around the island of Caledonia. He landed, seized his
+hammer, and strode upwards to a steep rocky hill, on which sheep and
+goats were grazing.
+
+It was early morning, in the time when roses begin to bloom.
+
+Mist floated over the sea, and upon the cliffs.
+
+Then Halfred saw the shepherd standing above, on the cliff's edge; and
+he played a lovely melody upon his shepherd's pipe.
+
+And at first he doubted whether he should ask this shepherd boy his
+question about the Gods, for he left women and boys unquestioned. And
+this shepherd seemed to him but a boy.
+
+But as he climbed nearer to him he saw that the shepherd carried a
+spear, and a shepherd's sling, with which to kill wolves.
+
+And the shepherd lad believed that this was a robber or a Berseker
+coming against him and his sheep.
+
+And he chose out of his leather pouch a sharp heavy stone, and laid it
+in his sling, and held it ready to cast it.
+
+Halfred held his left hand over the eye that remained to him, and
+looked upward with difficulty, dazzled, for just then the sun broke out
+through the mist clouds exactly above the head of the shepherd, who
+thus saw clearly the figure of the half naked man, with tangled
+floating hair and beard, who now raising the hammer threateningly
+ascended the hill. Upon a slab of stone, under a great ash tree, he
+stopped, and cried to the shepherd--
+
+"Are there Gods, shepherd boy? Sayest thou yes, then thou must die."
+
+"Gods, there are not," replied the shepherd, in a clear voice, "but
+wise men have taught me there lives one Almighty Triune God, Creator of
+Heaven and Earth."
+
+The man with the hammer paused for a moment as if meditating.
+
+Such an answer had he never received.
+
+Soon, however, he sprang threateningly upwards again.
+
+Preventing him, however, the shepherd swung his sling; whirring flew
+the sharp stone; it was a sharp hard three-edged flint stone--I had
+carefully reserved it for some great peril--and alas! alas--woe is me,
+only too truly did it strike. Without a sound Halfred fell, where he
+stood, on his back under the ash tree, himself like to a suddenly
+felled tree.
+
+With a few bounds the shepherd reached the prostrate form, cautiously
+holding his spear before him, lest the enemy should suddenly spring up
+again. For it might be that he only artfully feigned to be wounded.
+
+As he drew nearer, however, he saw that it was no deceit, but rather
+evident truth.
+
+Blood streamed over the fallen man's right cheek, and in the cavity of
+the right eye stuck the sharp flint stone.
+
+But pity mingled with dread seized upon the shepherd, as he gazed in
+the fearful mighty face of the man who lay mute at his feet. Never
+before had he seen so splendid a face; at once so noble, and so sad.
+
+And superstitious fear overcame him, if it might not be the chief of
+the heathen gods, Odhin, the one-eyed, who in the semblance of this
+wanderer with the white beard had appeared to him.
+
+But soon he felt yet deeper sympathy and compassion, for the wounded
+man in a weak voice began:--
+
+"Whosoever thou mayest be, who hast cast this stone, receive the
+thanks, O shepherd boy, of a world and woe weary man. Thou hast taken
+from me the light of the second eye also. I need no longer to see
+men-kind and the heavens. Neither of them have I understood for a long
+time. And soon shall I pass to where questions are no more asked, and
+curses no more cursed. I thank thee, whosoever thou mayest be. Thou
+hast of all living beings--save one--done the best for Halfred
+Hamundson."
+
+Then with a loud cry I threw my spear on one side, fell upon my knees,
+embraced the pale bleeding head, and cried:--
+
+"Halfred, Halfred, my father, forgive, forgive me!--I am the murderer--
+and thy son--"
+
+Now ye who shall one day unroll this parchment--pause at this place,
+and look upwards to the sun, if it is day, and to the stars, if it is
+night, and ask with Halfred--"Are there Gods?"
+
+For I, I, who secretly and in dread write these pages during the night
+hours, I am the shepherd boy, Halfred's son, who have slain him.
+
+And the Gods, or the Christian God, have allowed it to come to pass
+that the son has blinded and murdered the father.
+
+I wept hot tears upon my dear father's pale forehead. But he turned his
+head, as though he would see me, and said--
+
+"It is hard that the curse must be so wholly fulfilled upon me, that I
+must be entirely blinded before death.
+
+"Fain would I have looked closely into thy face, my dear son.
+
+"Now I know not if the golden cloud I saw spread about thy head was thy
+hair or the sun rays.
+
+"Thou seemedst to me fair to look upon, my boy.
+
+"But tell me, how do they call thee?
+
+"Have they verily, at thy birth, named thee Liarson Scoundrelson
+Harthildsvengeance? and how did it happen that thou camest into life. I
+believed Dame Harthild burned in the dwelling house."
+
+Then I laid my dear father's head upon my knees, and dried with the
+long yellow hair I was at that time still allowed to wear, the blood
+from his cheek, and told him all.
+
+How my mother would not be carried from the burning Mead hall back into
+the dwelling house, but rather on to one of the ships of her father.
+
+How from thence, when the battle and the flames threatened dwelling
+house and ships, she was borne by her women and the sailors into a
+boat, and therein rowed out upon the Fjord.
+
+How in the boat she had forthwith given birth to a son, but died
+herself; and ere she died had laid her hand upon my head, and said--
+
+"Not Liarson--not Scoundrelson--not Harthildsvengeance shall he be
+named--no; Fridgifa Sigskaldson."[6]
+
+"She was right in that," said Halfred. "Thou hast aided the Sigskald to
+peace at last."
+
+And how after she was dead the fearful battle and burning on shore
+scared the sailors and women still further out to sea.
+
+And how the small boat was almost sunk by the fury of a storm from the
+west, and all the bondmen and women were washed overboard by the waves,
+save one rower, and a bond maiden, who hid the infant under the stern
+seat.
+
+And how, at last, Christian priests, who were sailing out to convert
+the heathen people, picked up the half starved wanderers, and brought
+all three hither, to the island of the holy Columban; and cleansed both
+the two, and the infant, with the water of baptism.
+
+And how the two, my foster parents, told me all that they knew about my
+father, and mother, up to the time of the burning of the Mead hall.
+
+And how the two were never weary of lauding to me my father's glory in
+battle and song.
+
+And how the monks of Saint Columban, as I grew, would have me taught to
+read and write; but I loved far better to go out with the hunters and
+shepherds of the monastery, and liked to draw targets on the parchment
+leaves for my little cross-bow.
+
+And how, at length, they declared me unfit for books, when with my
+small bolt I had pierced through and through a costly picture which on
+the gold ground of a thumb broad margin represented the whole of the
+Passion, and promoted me with a sound thrashing to be herd boy of the
+monastery.
+
+And how for many years, since my foster parents were dead, I had kept
+the sheep of the monastery; and my sole pleasure therein had been in
+fighting with the bears, the wolves, and the eagles, that attacked the
+lambs.
+
+Or in playing upon my shepherd's pipe, or in listening to the roar of
+the sea and the forest.
+
+And Halfred laid my head upon his broad breast, and folded both his
+arms around it, and laid his hand upon it, and was still and silent for
+a long time.
+
+And I brought him water to drink from the fountain, and milk from my
+flock; and would have drawn the stone from the wound, but he said--
+
+"Leave it, my dear son--the end draws near.
+
+"But I feel the band taken away from my brain, which for many many
+years has pressed upon it.
+
+"And all becomes clear and bright to my thoughts. I can see inwardly
+again how all has been, now that I can no longer see outward things.
+
+"And for thee, and for myself, before I die, I will set forth clearly
+and exactly how all has been. Give me once again milk from thy flock to
+drink."
+
+And I gave him to drink, and he laid his head again upon my knee, and
+began to tell me, quite clearly and distinctly, all that had come to
+pass since that midsummer night.
+
+And from his lips have I learned all, onward from that midsummer night,
+which in the earlier pages of this book I have written out. And much
+have I also learned from him, of those earlier times of which my foster
+parents could know nothing.
+
+And I have kept it all in faithful remembrance.
+
+And as the evening fell he came to the end of his account, and he said,
+
+"Lay my face so that once more the sun shall shine upon it. Fain would
+I feel the dear Lord once again."
+
+And I did as he commanded.
+
+And he breathed deeply, and said:
+
+"It must certainly be spring. A perfume of wild roses floats to me."
+
+And I told him that he lay under a blooming rose-bush.
+
+And then a blackbird raised his sweet song from the bush.
+
+"Thus I hear once more the blackbird's evening song," said Halfred.
+
+"Now farewell all. Sun and sea, forest and stars of heaven, wild rose
+perfume, and songs of birds; and farewell to thee, my dear son. I thank
+thee that thou hast released me from madness, and an evil life.
+
+"I can, to requite thee, as all my heritage, leave thee only this
+hammer. Guard it faithfully.
+
+"Whether there be Gods--I know not. Methinks that men can never search
+it out. But I tell thee, my son, whether Gods live or not, hammer
+throwing, and harp playing, and sunshine, and the kiss of woman, these
+are the rewards of life.
+
+"Mayest thou win a wife who is but a faint reflection of Thora.
+
+"Then hail to thee, my son!
+
+"Bury me here, where mingles the roar of the forest and the sea.
+
+"Farewell my dear son. Dame Harthild's curse thou hast turned for me
+into a blessing."
+
+And he died.
+
+The blackbird ceased singing in the bush. And as the sun sank, one warm
+full flood of his rays streamed full upon that mighty face.
+
+Thus died the son of Oski.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+When now my dear father was dead, whom I myself had slain, I wept
+bitterly, and lay all night by the side of the dead.
+
+And when the sun again arose I considered what I should now do.
+
+At first I thought I would drive the flock to the monastery, which lay
+some six stages distant, and relate all to the monks, and confess how I
+had, all unwittingly, slain my own father; and beg for absolution for
+myself, and for a Christian grave for my dear father.
+
+But I bethought me that the monks would not bury my father with
+Christian honours, since he had died a heathen. And neither would they
+allow me to burn him, after the custom of the heathen people, because
+the heathen gods would thus be brought much into remembrance. And they
+would certainly throw him, unhonoured, into the sea, as they had
+already done to a heathen from Zealand.
+
+So I resolved to be silent about it all, and not to betray my dear dead
+father to the priests.
+
+And thus could I neither confess the death blow, nor receive counsel
+respecting my guiltless crime.
+
+And from thence was the beginning of my freeing my mind from the monks
+and their creed.
+
+And I knew, quite near, of a cavern, which was known only to me, for it
+had a very small entrance, and I had only discovered it because I had
+followed a stone marten which had slipped into it. A fallen block of
+stone concealed the entrance, and I found many ashes and remnants of
+bones within the spacious cavern, which opened towards the sea. In
+early days, no doubt, the heathen Scots had burnt their dead here.
+Thither I carried, not without much difficulty, my dear dead father,
+and set him upright in the cavern, his face turned towards the sea. The
+roots of the oaks and ashes which waved above the cavern, penetrated
+through the stone downwards almost to his head. Above him roared the
+forest, before him roared the sea. There did I place my dear father,
+and rolled the stone again to the entrance.
+
+But even his hammer, his only possession, I dared not keep. Even should
+I tell the monks I had found it, or bought it from sailors--they would
+not have left it with me, for strong heathen victory runes were
+engraved on the haft.
+
+So I laid then the hammer also close to the right hand of the dead.
+"Guard it for me, dear father," I said, "till I need it again. Then
+will I fetch it."
+
+But from that hour there came a great change over my disposition.
+
+That which had most delighted me, to fight for my sheep with wolves,
+bears, and birds of prey--that attracted me no more.
+
+Rather the question which had driven my dear father even to madness, if
+there be a God, or Gods? And how it could be that such fearful things
+should come to pass as are here set down in this history, from the vow
+upon the Bragi cup, on to this great horror, that the son had slain his
+own father. These questionings seized upon me, and would not let me
+rest, any more than my dear father.
+
+And as my dear father of yore looked up to the stars, and implored the
+heathen Gods for enlightenment, so also did I look up to the stars for
+illumination, praying to Christ and the saints.
+
+But to me also the heavens were dumb.
+
+Then I said to myself--"Here on the sheep pastures, and from the roar
+of the sea, and from the light of the stars, wilt thou find no answer
+all thy life long, any more than thy dear father.
+
+"But in the books of the monks, the Latin ones and those others, with
+the crinkled runic flourishes, lie hidden all holy and worldly wisdom.
+
+"And when thou can'st read them, all will be clear to thee in heaven
+and upon earth."
+
+And so I took leave of my dear father, gathered my sheep together, and
+drove them to the monastery.
+
+"Art thou gone mad, Irenaeus?" asked the porter, as he opened the door
+for me and my bleating charge, "that thou drivest home before shearing
+time. They will scourge thee again."
+
+"I was mad," I replied, "but now I will become a scholar. Now another
+may scare the wolves. I will learn Greek."
+
+And thus I also said to the good Abbot Aelfrik, before whom I was at
+once led for chastisement.
+
+But he said--
+
+"Lay the scourge aside. Perchance the boy, who has always been a
+heathenish worldly Saul, has become suddenly a Paul, through the grace
+of the holy Columban. He shall have his wish. If he holds to it--then
+it is a work of the saints. If his zeal flags, then it is a wile of
+Satan, and he shall go out again to his sheep."
+
+But I kept silence, and said nothing about the reason for which I
+wished to learn.
+
+And my zeal did not flag, and I learned Latin and Greek, and read all
+the books that they had in the monastery, the Christian ones of the
+church fathers, which they call theology, and many heathen ones, of the
+old world wisdom, which they call philosophy.
+
+And I soon perceived that often, in one church father, was found just
+the contrary of what was in another church father.
+
+And that Aristotle reviled Plato, and that Cicero tried to make sense
+of it all, and could not.
+
+And after that I, in three, four years, had read through all the books
+which they had in the monastery, and had contended all night long with
+all the monks in the monastery, I knew no more of that which I wished
+to know than on the day when I had buried my dear father.
+
+The old good-natured fat Abbot Aelfrik however--he was of noble race,
+and had formerly been a warrior at the court of the Scottish King, and
+loved me--often said to me,
+
+"Give up these searchings Fridgifa"--for he willingly called me by my
+heathen name when we were alone. "Thou must believe, not question. And
+drink often, between whiles good ale or wine, and sing a song to the
+harp"--for he had taught me harp playing, in which I had great delight,
+and which he loved much, and everyone said that none could play the
+harp like me in all Scotland; "and forget not either often to throw the
+lance at the target in the monastery garden. Much book reading withers
+the body."
+
+And I remembered that my dear father's last words had been just the
+same. And often and often I stole away to my dear father's hill,
+brought forth the hammer, exercised myself in hammer throwing by star
+light, and sat then for hours before the cavern, and listened to the
+roar of wind, wood, and wave.
+
+And now it often seemed to me as if, in such moods, I came nearer to
+the truth than through all the books of the Christian priests, and
+heathen philosophers.
+
+And I almost believe I shall not stay much longer in the monastery.
+
+Especially since, lately, a skald from Halogaland visited the
+monastery, and told of the life at the court of King Harald; of his
+lordly royal hall, in which twenty skalds by turns play the harp.
+
+And how the boldest heroes ever willingly enter his service.
+
+And how year by year his warlike expeditions are crowned with victory.
+
+And of Gunnlodh, his wonderfully beautiful golden-haired daughter, who
+pledges the bravest heroes and the best skalds in the horn.
+
+Since then, my inclination no longer turns towards psalm-singing and
+vigils.
+
+But certainly they will not easily let me leave the monastery.
+
+For because I can write Latin and Greek well, Aaron, the new Abbot, the
+Italian, who has succeeded the good peace-loving Aelfrik, makes me
+unceasingly write out manuscripts, which they then sell for a great
+price, in Britain, and even in Germany.
+
+And Aaron is very sharp upon my track, because I seem to him to lack
+true Christian zeal.
+
+And did he know that upon these parchment sheets, whereupon I ought to
+have written out, for the seventeenth time, the treatise of Lactantius
+"de mortibus persecutorum," I have, by night, written out the history
+of my dear father--it would not pass without many days' fasting, and
+some score of penitential psalms.
+
+Lately he actually threatened me to have "some one" scourged, who ever
+again came too late for the Hora.
+
+That "someone" was I. For I had just begun to write about the battle on
+the Singing Swan, and could not tear myself away from it when the Hora
+bell called.
+
+But ere the son of Halfred the Sigskald endures scourging on the
+back,--rather will I slay Aaron and all his Italian monks.
+
+But for slaying I need something different from this copying style.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+Thus far had I written by Good Friday.
+
+For a long while could I not contrive to write further. For the hatred,
+jealousy, and mistrust of Aaron and his hangers-on--there are many of
+his Italian countrymen come with him from Rumaberg--grow constantly
+greater. He has forbidden me to write by night.
+
+Only by day, and in the library, no longer in my cell, may I write. And
+the transcript of Lactantius I am to deliver to him on the appointed
+parchment by Whitsuntide, on pain of seven days' fasting.
+
+My resentment increases against this priestly tyranny.
+
+Only rarely, and by stealth, can I get at these pages. Also I can only
+with great difficulty reach my dear father's hill. They track my lonely
+wanderings.
+
+It will soon come to open war. At any rate I will provide myself with a
+sure weapon.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+With difficulty did I, yesterday evening, in the sleeve of my frock,
+bring my dear father's hammer into the monastery. I have hidden it in
+the outer court, but where--that I do not trust even to these pages. I
+think much over the question of my dear father, and I believe that soon
+I shall find the truth.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+For three days I could not write at all. The skald from King Harald's
+court has again been a guest in the monastery.
+
+I have made him tell me all about the life at that court. It is just as
+in my dear father's days. Certainly King Harald and all his courtiers
+are heathens, and their warlike expeditions are mostly against
+Christian kings and bishops. But that does not make me waver in my
+purpose, which is firmly resolved. He told me much about Gunnlodh.
+
+In twenty nights a ship of King Harald's will sail again into the
+harbour from...
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+I know now the answer to Halfred's question.
+
+There are no heathen Gods.
+
+But neither is there any Christian God, who, almighty, all merciful,
+all wise, allowed that the father should be slain by the son.
+
+Rather, that only happens upon earth which is necessary, and what men
+do and do not, that must they do and not do; as the north wind must
+bring cold, the south wind warmth; and as the stone thrown must fall to
+the earth. Why must it fall? No one knows. But it must.
+
+But men should not sigh and question and despair, rather rejoice in
+hammer throwing and harp playing, in sunshine and Greek wine, and in
+the beauty of women.
+
+For that is a lie that it is a sin to long for a beautiful woman.
+Otherwise must the human race die out; if all become so devout as no
+more to long for a woman.
+
+And the dead are dead, and no longer living.
+
+Otherwise had the shade of my dear father long since appeared to me, at
+my earnest entreaty.
+
+Of what alone, however, man should believe; of that I will speak
+hereafter.
+
+Without fear shall he live, and without hope shall he die.
+
+In this monastery, however, will I remain no longer than----.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+Thus far had he written, the God forsaken Brother Irenaeus. Here fell
+the righteous judgment of Heaven upon him.
+
+I, Aaron of Perusia, called by the grace of God to feed these lambs of
+the holy Columban, had also the grace given to me to drive the diseased
+sheep from the flock.
+
+Long was I on the track of him and his worldly, heathenish, sinful,
+ungodly, yea God-blaspheming doings; his guilty conscience had rightly
+boded this. Step by step I had him watched by Italian brethren, full of
+godly zeal, without his observing it. The most pious of them, Brother
+Ignatius of Spoletum, succeeded in winning his confidence--for stupidly
+unsuspicious are they--these barbarians--through often allowing him to
+entertain him with harp playing, Irenaeus begged from him one day some
+ink powder from his store, as he had used up his appointed portion, and
+from the "Head of the Pharisees"--thus the shameless sinner termed his
+abbot and chief shepherd--could not obtain fresh supplies, without
+delivering over what he had written with the former supply.
+
+Brother Ignatius at once, as was his pious obligation, told all to me,
+his abbot. But the ink powder he gave to him, with that wisdom of the
+serpent which is well pleasing to God in his priests.
+
+Soon thereafter the sinner set out again upon one of those secret
+expeditions which have ever been his wont, remaining out the whole
+night when some errand had allowed him to escape from the monastery. I
+never forbade him to go out, for I hoped through one of these secret
+expeditions, most easily to discover his hidden doings. I sent, spies
+after him every time; but every time he suddenly and mysteriously
+disappeared among the wooded crags along the shore.
+
+This time I myself sent him out, and as soon as he had left the
+monastery court I at once made a most rigorous search through the whole
+of his cell.
+
+There at last I found, after much labour, these blasphemous pages,
+written very small, in his accursed graceful handwriting, and artfully
+hidden in a crevice between two stone slabs of the floor.
+
+I took the devil's work with me, and read and read, with growing
+horror. So much sin, so much worldliness, so much heathenish delight in
+fighting and singing, in drinking and carnal love, so much, finally, of
+doubt, of unbelief, of naked blasphemy, had, under the roof of the holy
+Columban, under my pastoral staff, grown up, and been written out!
+
+Abhorrence seized upon me, and holy indignation.
+
+Forthwith I summoned the Italian brethren to special secret council and
+judgment. I pointed out to them the deadly poison of these writings,
+which indeed were full of the seven deadly sins; and the unanimous
+sentence was pronounced. First, three hundred lashes with the scourge;
+then immuring in the chastisement cell, with vinegar, water, and bread,
+until repentant contrition and the fullest amendment were made
+manifest.
+
+Impatiently we awaited the return of the accursed sinner.
+
+With the vesper bell he entered the door of the monastery court.
+
+Immediately I placed myself before the door, shot the iron bolt,
+and called forward the Italian brethren. The greater number, the
+Anglo-Saxons, who were well disposed towards the blasphemer, on account
+of his sinful harp playing, and lukewarm in zeal for the Lord, I had
+before collected in the refectory, and locked up until the offender
+should be secured.
+
+Hastily the Italians came, and behind them several armed bondmen of the
+monastery. Then, in place of all accusation, I held up these pages
+before the miserable wretch, and pronounced the agreed upon sentence.
+
+Then, ere we were aware, the God-detested criminal sprang with
+lightning speed to the cistern in the court, and drew forth from behind
+it a frightful horrible hammer.
+
+"Dear hammer of Halfred, aid his son today," he cried in a threatening
+voice.
+
+And the next thing was--it seemed to me as though the Heavens fell upon
+my head and neck--I sank upon the ground.
+
+Only after a long while did I awake again.
+
+Then I lay upon my bed, a man given up, and the brethren from Italy
+lamented around my couch; and recounted that the furious Samson had,
+with a second blow, shattered the bolt on the door, and made his
+escape. The monastery servants, indeed, followed him, and several of
+the brethren, led by brother Ignatius. But when the fugitive suddenly
+turned, and slew the foremost of the pursuers, one of the monastery
+servants, who would have seized him, with the frightful hammer, and
+struck down brother Ignatius, severely wounded, the others gave up the
+pursuit. At once he again disappeared, as always, among the cliffs and
+woods.
+
+Never have we seen him since, although from the very day of my
+awakening I had him carefully searched for all along the coast. The
+cavern of which these accursed pages speak could we not find. I would
+have had the bones of the old heathen murderer thrown into the sea.
+Probably the son concealed himself there, until he could leave the
+island on some ship. I however, in consequence of the blow from his
+hammer, which shattered my shoulder and collar bone, on one side, have
+to suffer all my life long from a hideous twist of the neck, which is
+exceedingly prejudicial to the dignity of an abbot.
+
+This sinful book of abominations however, I sent to Rome, to the holy
+Bishop, with the question, whether we should burn it, or preserve it,
+to aid in tracing and convicting the escaped monk, should we succeed in
+capturing him again?
+
+For a long long time came no answer.
+
+But after many many years the book came back from Rome, with the
+command to keep it--only the blasphemous passages therein were
+erased--and as a warning example to others, was the Abbot of St.
+Columban to append to these pages an account from an accompanying
+letter of the Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg, of how dreadful a fate
+had, through the righteous judgments of God, ended this apostate's
+sinful life of the highest earthly enjoyment; which he--this may
+console us--will doubtless have to expiate in the eternal torments of
+hell.
+
+From the Archbishop's letter it appeared there could be no doubt that
+our perjured Brother, Irenaeus, is none other than one who, in all the
+courts of the north, has been for many years celebrated as a warrior
+and singer, and crowned with all earthly fame and happiness, Jarl
+Sigurd Halfredson; who appeared suddenly at the court of King Harald of
+Halogaland--none knew whence he came--with one of the skalds of the
+King, and through hammer throwing, and harp playing, soon won for
+himself such renown that King Harald gave him three castles, the
+command of all his armies, and his daughter Gunnlodh in marriage.
+
+But King Harald was the most furious Christian hater, and the bitterest
+opposer of the Gospel in all the North.
+
+And for long years Jarl Sigurd led the troops of King Harald, and
+always led them to victory.
+
+The Lord at that time tried his own with severe affliction. He had
+turned his face from them, and the vassals of the Bishops, and of the
+Christian princes of the North, could not stand before Jarl Sigurd, and
+his dreaded hammer.
+
+But the end of this man of blood was horrible, and therefore it has
+been--by the command of the holy Father--copied from the letter of the
+Archbishop, as a fearful warning to all who read these pages.
+
+As he, that is to say, after once more in a great battle overthrowing
+the Bishop's troops, was pursuing them in sinful joy, and shouting
+"victory, victory!" he was mortally wounded by an arrow in the breast.
+
+King Harald caused his heathen priests and the skalds to draw near to
+the right side of the death bed, to console him with songs of Valhalla.
+
+The wounded man waved them away with his hand.
+
+Then drew near, on the other side of the dying, three Christian
+priests, who had been made prisoners in the battle, and would have
+given him the holy last Sacrament, if he acknowledged the Lord.
+
+Indignantly the godless sinner repulsed them with his arm. And when
+King Harald, astonished, asked him in whom then he believed, if not in
+the heathen Gods, nor in the white Christ? he laughed and said--"I
+believe in myself, and my strength. Kiss me once more, Gunnlodh, and
+give me Greek wine in a golden cup."
+
+And he kissed her, and drank, and said--
+
+"Glorious it is to die in victory"--and died.
+
+But he remained unhonoured and unburied by heathen priests and
+Christians, since he had defiantly rejected both.
+
+So then it is certain and set forth as a warning to all--but to us a
+righteous consolation--that the God accursed soul of this most
+blasphemous of all sinners must burn in hell for ever and ever--Amen.
+
+
+
+
+                              POSTSCRIPT.
+
+
+What I here wrote down, years since, as my belief concerning the fate,
+after death, of this abandoned sinner, has been fully confirmed by a
+delightful testimony.
+
+That is to say, Brother Ignatius--who lately died--and certainly in
+great sanctity--was before his death honoured by a wonderful vision.
+
+Saint Columban, himself, in a dream, led him by the hand into hell, and
+there he saw, in the deepest pit of sulpher, Brother Irenaeus, burning
+whole and entire.
+
+But upon his left shoulder blade, on the spot where he struck me, his
+Abbot, sat an infernal raven, and hacked unceasingly through the
+shoulder even to his blaspheming heart.
+
+Of this has Brother Ignatius assured us before his death. And therefore
+have I hereunto add this also, about the raven and the shoulder blade,
+in order that all who read these pages, but especially the disciples of
+the holy Columban in this monastery, may learn the chastisement which
+awaits him who lifts heart and hand against his soul's shepherd, the
+Abbot.
+
+
+
+                                 AMEN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: "Oski," in reality one of the special forms of Odin, is,
+in the Scandinavian mythology, the god who fulfils all the desires of
+men.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Here the parchment is pierced through, and with different
+ink three crosses are signed over the burnt out part.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cup sacred to Bragi, the god of poetry. At the Yule feast
+the heathen were wont, while the Bragi cup was passing round, to pledge
+themselves by vows to the performance of deeds of special danger or
+renown. They swore upon the Bragi cup, or upon the boar's head, which
+was the principal dish of the feast.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A poetical expression of the Edda for the beginning of
+drunkenness.]
+
+[Footnote 5: "Brisingamene," the necklace of Freya, the goddess of
+love, was the symbol of female charm and attraction.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _i.e._ Peacebringer.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Saga of Halfred the Sigskald, by Felix Dahn
+
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