{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69907/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69907","id":"gutenberg_69907","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69907","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Historical Novels","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Short stories, American","Vikings -- Fiction"],"text":"A VIKING\u2019S LOVE\n\n\n                        List of Published Books\n\n                       By OTTILIE A. LILJENCRANTZ\n\n                THE SCRAPE THAT JACK BUILT\n                        Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.\n                           1896\n\n                THE THRALL OF LEIF THE LUCKY\n                        Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.\n                           1902\n\n                THE WARD OF KING CANUTE\n                        Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.\n                           1903\n\n                THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS\n                        New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1904\n\n                RANDVAR THE SONGSMITH\n                        New York: Harper & Brothers.\n                           1906\n\n                  Also: Various Magazine Stories and\n                            Articles published in later\n                            years\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  _Drawn by Arthur E. Becher._\n\n  \u201c_Schooling her how she must put him from her heart and forget him._\u201d\n]\n\n\n\n\n                             A VIKING\u2019S LOVE\n                               AND OTHER\n                           TALES of the NORTH\n\n\n                       BY OTTILIE A LILJENCRANTZ\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                                CHICAGO\n                           A C M^cCLURG & CO\n                                  1911\n\n\n\n\n                             Copyright 1911\n                          A. C. McClurg & Co.\n                        Published October, 1911\n\n\n                            The Caslon Press\n                                Chicago\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                   Page\n                   I A Viking\u2019s Love                 13\n                  II The Hostage                     29\n                 III As The Norns Weave              41\n                  IV How Thor Recovered His Hammer   63\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                        OTTILIE A. LILJENCRANTZ\n\n\nOttilie A. Liljencrantz was born in Chicago in 1876, the daughter of\nGustave A. M. and Adeline C. Liljencrantz. On her mother\u2019s side, she was\na descendant of the Puritans; on her father\u2019s she could trace her\nlineage from Laurentius Petrie, an Archbishop in Upsala, a disciple of\nMartin Luther, and a translator of the Bible in the sixteenth century.\nThe first ancestor to bear the family name was Count Johan Liljencrantz,\nCouncillor of State and Minister of Finance, who was ennobled for his\nvaluable services to the Kingdom during the reign of Gustavus III.\n\nShe received her education at Dearborn Seminary in Chicago, graduating\nin 1903. While her health did not admit of a college course, she took a\npost-graduate course in literature and was always a persistent student\nin that line. She showed a marked literary taste at an early age. \u201cI was\nbrought up,\u201d she said, \u201con Longfellow and Bret Harte, as well as on the\nmyths and sagas of the North, and wrote my first story at the age of\nseven, a tragic love story, which was a great deal funnier than anything\nI have ever written since.\u201d\n\nWhile yet a school-girl, she wrote a number of plays for amateur\ntheatricals, and some short stories. Her first book, \u201cThe Scrape that\nJack Built,\u201d was published in 1896, but the tales of the North, with the\ndaring exploits of its Heroes, were alluring, and she made a thorough\nand exhaustive study of Northern literature\u2014Paul Du Chaillu\u2019s \u201cThe\nViking Age,\u201d \u201cFrithiof\u2019s Saga,\u201d Rasmus B. Anderson\u2019s introduction to\nNorse Mythology, and nearly forty other works of the same character.\nAmong these should be specially mentioned \u201cHavamal,\u201d which comprises the\nsayings of Odin and is regarded as the laws of the Vikings, and from\nwhich quotations appear at every chapter in her two great historical\nnovels, \u201cThe Thrall of Leif the Lucky\u201d and \u201cThe Ward of King Canute.\u201d\n\nHer writings are all morally wholesome, for both the virtues and the\nvices of her Viking heroes are those of their own times. In the eyes of\na Viking, the slaughter of an enemy was not a crime, but a noble and\nrighteous deed; and on the other hand, he would cheerfully lay down his\nlife for a friend.\n\nOttilie A. Liljencrantz had a most charming personality, and she was an\nhonored member of \u201cThe Little Room,\u201d \u201cThe Chicago Woman\u2019s Club,\u201d and of\nthe \u201cLyceum Club\u201d of London.\n\nShe died in Chicago on the seventh of October, 1910.\n\n\n\n\n                            A VIKING\u2019S LOVE\n\n\nIt was long ago, when the world was so young that peace meant little\nmore than a breathing spell between battles. At the Royal Farm of\nAugvaldsnes, in Norway, King Olaf Haraldsson sat at an Easter feast with\nhis men.\n\nRight and left on either hand the long tables stretched away, cleared of\nall their bounty, save two lines of brimming ale-horns. Down the middle\nof the hall fires burned brightly, flushing the delicate faces of the\nwomen on the cross-benches, sending the golden light higher\u2014higher\u2014until\nevery shield upon the tapestried wall flashed back an answer. Overhead,\nthrough the smoke-holes between the sooty rafters, shone the still white\nstars.\n\n\u201cSo, it may be, the eyes of angels look down upon our earthly pastimes,\u201d\nKing Olaf said thoughtfully, and his stern face softened with the\nsatisfaction he had in a scene of such orderly good cheer. Rolling his\nale on his tongue, he settled himself to listen to a man who had just\nrisen from a place on the left of the high-seat.\n\nThorer Sel was the man\u2019s name, and he was the bailiff that had this\nroyal farm of Augvaldsnes under his management. As he stood now, a showy\nfigure in the firelight, he would have been good to look at if his eyes\nhad not been shifty and his mouth coarsely overbearing. He smiled\njeeringly at the man who had addressed him.\n\n\u201cSo you want to know what took place between me and your friend, Sigurd\nAsbiornsson, do you?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cIf you will,\u201d the man on the bench answered. \u201cI was away on a Viking\nvoyage last summer when it happened.\u201d\n\nNext above this man on the bench sat a tall, broad-shouldered young\nfellow with a frank, comely face and the air of one amiably used to\nhaving his own way. He was the son of King Olaf\u2019s most powerful vassal,\nand his name was Erling Erlingsson. Now suddenly he, too, spoke up.\n\n\u201cI, also, would like to hear that story. If it is true, as I have heard\nit, then are you the only man in the world who has ever made Sigurd\nAsbiornsson bow his neck.\u201d\n\nThorer Sel threw him a glance over his shoulder.\n\n\u201cI forgot that it would not sit comfortably in your ears,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\nhad slipped my mind that the Halogalander is your kinsman.\u201d\n\n\u201cKinsman or not, I like to see justice done to men of courage,\u201d young\nErlingsson answered. \u201cI say, in the presence of everybody, that Sigurd\nAsbiornsson is one of the bravest men that ever drew sword or breath.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe story will show,\u201d Thorer Sel said mockingly, and began forthwith.\n\n\u201cTo start at the beginning, Sigurd Asbiornsson is the man who came down\nhere from the north and bought corn and malt to carry home for the\nentertaining of his friends, though it was well known to him that\nbecause of the bad seasons, King Olaf had forbidden that any meal should\nbe carried out of the south of the country. Dauntless as I am wont, I\nwent down where he had put in under the island for the night and\nstripped him of his cargo and his fine embroidered sail, and drove him\nhome in disgrace\u2014all in the manner which I will truthfully relate.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have seen that you have his sail in your possession,\u201d Erling said\nslowly, \u201cbut only he could convince me that you got it without a trick,\nif you got it against his will.\u201d\n\nThat was not a bad guess, since the only cause to which the bailiff owed\nhis success was his forethought in providing himself with sixty men, as\nagainst Sigurd Asbiornsson\u2019s twenty, and in falling upon him at the\nmoment when he and his crew were dressing after a morning swim and stood\nutterly defenseless against attack. But a guess is only a guess\u2014and no\none stood up to confirm it.\n\n\u201cThe story will show,\u201d sneered Thorer Sel, and proceeded to tell it at\ngreat length, with less and less regard for the truth.\n\nHe drew it out so long that many of the feasters tired of him and began\ntalking among themselves; but four people continued to listen\nattentively. One was the Viking who had asked for the tale. Another was\nErling, ominously fingering his sword-hilt. A third was a young girl\nsitting among the matrons on the cross-bench\u2014a beautiful girl who bore\nher small fair head with brave dignity. The fourth was a strange man in\npoor attire who had come in unnoticed among the servants that were\nfetching fresh supplies of ale.\n\nThe stranger listened the most keenly of all\u2014it almost seemed as if the\nbailiff might have left him hanging on the words. Step by step, he was\ndrawn forward until only a space of bare table lay between him and the\nstoryteller.\n\nHe was a tall man, with a mighty girth of chest and limb. For all that\nhe wore a shabby hat and held a hayfork in his hand, he did not carry\nhimself like a churl. As he moved from the shadow of the last pillar\ninto the firelight, the girl on the cross-bench stifled an exclamation,\nand her cheeks went white as the linen before her.\n\n\u201cAstrid, my friend, what ails you?\u201d the housewife beside her asked\nkindly.\n\nA woman on the matron\u2019s other side admonished her with a nudge.\n\n\u201cHave you forgot,\u201d she whispered, \u201cthat Asbiornsson wooed her before her\nfather married her to Hall the Wealthy? Naturally she would be troubled\nat hearing him ill-spoken of.\u201d\n\nThen both forgot her and their gossip and all else.\n\n\u201cHow did Sigurd behave when you unloaded his vessel?\u201d the Viking had\njust inquired.\n\nAnd the bailiff had answered brazenly: \u201cWhen we were discharging the\ncargo, he bore it tolerably, though not well; but when we took the sail\nfrom him, he wept.\u201d\n\nThey were the last words Thorer Sel spoke on earth. While they were\nstill on his lips, the stranger cleared the table at a bound. There was\na flaming of warrior-scarlet from under homespun gray, a hiss of steel,\nthe sound of a blow\u2014and then the whole room seemed turning scarlet, and\nthe head of Thorer Sel rolled on the table before the king.\n\n\u201cSigurd!\u201d the girl on the cross-bench cried piercingly.\n\n\u201cSigurd!\u201d shouted young Erlingsson, leaping to his feet.\n\nAfter that, it was hard to tell what any one said. Pushing forward in\nobedience to an awful gesture from King Olaf, guards laid hold of Sigurd\nAsbiornsson and hurried him from the hall, and thralls came running with\ntowels and water and a board. While some took up what lay heavily among\nthe reeds of the floor, others spread fresh linen, and still others\nremoved the bespattered mantle from the king\u2019s shoulders. Only in one\nthing they all acted alike\u2014no man raised his eyes to the king\u2019s furious\nface.\n\nOf a different mettle was Erling Erlingsson. Coming back from the door\nthrough which the guards had led his friend, he came straight up to the\nhigh-seat.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d he said, \u201cI will pay the blood-money for your bailiff, so that\nmy kinsman may retain life and limbs. All the rest do according to your\npleasure.\u201d\n\nKing Olaf\u2019s voice was very low. It was his way when his rage was\nhighest.\n\n\u201cIs it not a matter of death, Erling, when a man breaks the Easter\npeace, and breaks it in the king\u2019s lodgings, and makes the king\u2019s feet\nhis execution-block? Though it may well be that it seems a small matter\nto you and your father!\u201d His teeth showed through his quietness.\n\nErling tried his unpractised tongue at entreaty.\n\n\u201cThe deed is ill-done, Lord, in so far as it displeases you, though\notherwise done excellently well. But though it is so much against your\nwill, yet may I not expect something for my services to you?\u201d\n\nAfter a little, King Olaf said:\n\n\u201cYou have made me greatly indebted to you, Erling, but even for your\nsake I will not break the law nor cast aside my own dignity.\u201d\n\nBy a gesture he forbade a reply, and spoke on, asking what had been done\nwith the murderer.\n\n\u201cHe sits in irons, upon the doorstep, with his guard,\u201d Erling said,\nheavily.\n\nThen he roused himself to ask one thing which he thought might not be\ndenied him.\n\n\u201cLord, it is a year since I have seen him, and we have been\nblood-brothers since we were children. Give him into my charge this one\nnight, and I will answer for him in the morning.\u201d\n\nAfter a long time, King Olaf said grimly:\n\n\u201cIt is true that to hang a man after sunset is called murder. Take him,\nthen, for the rest of the night. But know for certain that your own life\nshall pay for it if he escape in any way.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt must be as you will,\u201d Erling answered, and went out of the\nfeasting-hall that but a short while before had seemed to him a place of\nsuch good cheer.\n\nUpon the doorstep, ironed hand and foot, Sigurd Asbiornsson sat\nlistening quietly to the excited expostulations of his guard. Now that\nthe broad-brimmed hat had fallen off, it could be seen that there was\nnothing blood-thirsty in his handsome sun-browned face. Strong-willed\nand proud and hard, it might be, and yet in some delicate curve of his\nmouth, some light of his fine gray eyes, lay that which won him,\nunsought, women\u2019s trust and men\u2019s love. He looked up with a smile to\nmeet Erling\u2019s troubled gaze.\n\n\u201cWhy take your failure so much to heart, comrade?\u201d he remonstrated. \u201cI\ncame prepared to pay Olaf\u2019s price. Stay here by me that we may at least\nhave to-night together, for I suppose he thinks too much of his\nwonderful laws to hang me before sunrise.\u201d\n\nNodding, Erling turned and spoke to one of the guards, who caught up a\nhammer and commenced knocking the chains off the prisoner\u2019s limbs with\nfar greater alacrity than he had shown in putting them on.\n\n\u201cWhat is the meaning of that?\u201d Sigurd asked in surprise.\n\n\u201cOlaf has given you into my charge until morning,\u201d Erling explained\nbriefly.\n\nFor as long as the space between one breath and the next, the prisoner\ngrew tense and alert.\n\n\u201cWhat pledge did you give for my safety?\u201d he asked quickly.\n\nLess quickly, Erling answered: \u201cMy own life.\u201d\n\nThe half-formed hope faded. Sigurd\u2019s mighty frame relaxed.\n\n\u201cI give you thanks,\u201d he said, and no more was spoken on the subject.\n\nOne by one, the guards drifted back to the ale-horns, and the friends\nwere left alone in the starlit silence of the courtyard. Suddenly,\nErling laid hold of the great shoulders before him and shook him\nfiercely, while at the same time his fingers clung to them in a caress.\n\n\u201cYou madman!\u201d he burst out. \u201cCould you not guess that I was going to\nkill him for you? Olaf dare not slay me\u2014a fine would be the uttermost.\nWhat fiend possessed you! Did you imagine Olaf loved you because you had\nalways defied his laws? You madman! Did you not know that I would do it\nfor you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWould that have rubbed out my disgrace, if you had done it for me?\u201d\nSigurd asked quietly.\n\nHe laid his hands on the other\u2019s shoulders, and they stood breast to\nbreast and eye to eye.\n\n\u201cCome, come, kinsman, these are useless words; why waste breath on them?\nIf you knew how Thorer Sel spoke to me that morning\u2014spoke to me before\nmy men!\u2014and how the tale spread northward until churls that had never\ndared sneer behind my back before, taunted me to my face! No, no, it was\nthe only way to do it, boldly and openly, with every one looking on. Now\nI shall leave a clean name behind me. What more could I do if I lived to\nbe a hundred?\u201d\n\nErling was silent; only, his hands that rested on his friend\u2019s shoulders\ngripped and held them so that marks were left on the flesh, and the two\nmen remained looking into each other\u2019s eyes until a mist came between.\n\nThen, without speaking, they freed each other; and Sigurd said quickly:\n\n\u201cOne more thing lies on me to do. Will you help me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI trust there is killing in it,\u201d Erling said through his teeth.\n\n\u201cIt is to get a message to Astrid, Gudbrand\u2019s daughter,\u201d Sigurd replied.\n\nErling cried out in amazement: \u201cThe wife of Hall the Wealthy!\u201d\n\n\u201cHall the Wealthy has been dead two seasons.\u201d\n\nBut Erling exclaimed again: \u201cGudbrand\u2019s daughter! Of whom you could not\nspeak bitter words enough\u2014even though you knew they would reach her\near!\u201d\n\n\u201cI spoke unfairly,\u201d Sigurd said, flushing. \u201cShe sent me a token that I\ndid not receive\u2014I cannot tell you more. I do not ask now that she should\nstoop to see me herself, but if she would send some woman who has her\nconfidence\u2014if I could speak my message to her with the certainty that it\nwould come truthfully to Astrid\u2019s ear\u2014\u2014\u201d His dark face flushed redder\nand redder in the moonlight, and he did not turn away to hide it. \u201cIt is\nthe greatest service you could render me, kinsman,\u201d he finished.\n\nStifling an impatient breath, Erling flung the end of his cloak over his\nshoulder and turned.\n\n\u201cThe sooner the better, then\u2014before they are gone to bed. Wait in the\nherb-garden, yonder. It is the spot where you will be the least liable\nto interruption.\u201d\n\nNetted around with bare bushes and strewn underfoot with shriveled\nleaves, the herb-garden lay in desolation. Yet even here the slender\nsides of branches showed the swelling hopes of springtime. A thought\ncame to Sigurd of the budding trees at home, and the harvest he would\nnever reap; then he thrust it from him angrily, and strode up and down\nthe pathway, waiting.\n\nThree times the wind rustling through the bushes tricked him. But at\nlast there was the ring of spurs on gravel, and Erling came out of the\nshadows, followed by a slender figure wrapped from head to foot in a\nhooded cloak of blue.\n\nTrying to guess which one of Astrid\u2019s women the silken folds hid, Sigurd\nstood gazing at her silently. She halted before him without speaking;\nbut Erling said shortly:\n\n\u201cYou have little enough time. I was only able to manage it because\nGudbrand is still swilling drink in the hall. The instant I see his\ntorch-bearers, I shall call you.\u201d\n\nHe disappeared again into the gloom that lay between them and the gate.\n\nUnconsciously, Sigurd\u2019s glance must have followed him, for when it came\nback to the girl, she had answered the question in his mind. The blue\nhood was thrown back, and the moon shone on a small fair head, upborne\nwith brave dignity, even while the lovely eyes and lips were tremulous.\n\n\u201cAstrid!\u201d he breathed.\n\nShe returned his look with the grave steadiness that was a little\npathetic in so young a girl.\n\n\u201cFor the second time I have lowered the point of my pride to you,\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cAre you going to make me sorry this time also?\u201d\n\nHe began to speak eagerly. It seemed that he would have caught her hands\nif he had dared.\n\n\u201cAstrid, I was not to blame! I beg you not to believe that I would\nslight a token from you who have always sat highest in my heart. The\nchurl you gave your rune-ring to\u2014he must have mislaid it, and then\nfeared to give it to me when he found it afterwards. Not until this\nSpring, when he died and his relation came upon it among his things and\nbrought it to me, did I know that you had sent me a message of love\nafter your father refused to bargain with me. Because I was not in the\nking\u2019s service, Gudbrand was even disrespectful in his treatment of me.\nAnd the next month, I heard that you had married Hall. And I had had no\nfarewell from you. What could I think but that you had held me lightly,\nand lightly let me go? What else could I think?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou could have remembered that I was helpless,\u201d Astrid answered slowly.\n\u201cCould I wed you against my father\u2019s will? Could I hold back from\nmarrying Hall, though he was in everything what I detested most?\u201d\n\nShe steadied her lip in her little white teeth.\n\n\u201cYou could have believed in me,\u201d she said, \u201cas I would have believed in\nyou. Three seasons we had spoken and feasted and ridden together, and\nwhen had you ever found me changeable toward my friends, or greedy after\ngold? You could have believed in me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI ought to have believed,\u201d Sigurd said humbly.\n\nHis face had grown white, as no man had ever seen it. Even when spurs\nclanked on the path, he stood before her helplessly.\n\n\u201cI ought to have believed,\u201d was all he could say.\n\nMoving a step nearer, she laid her hands upon his breast and looked up\nat him with a little flickering smile.\n\n\u201cYou would have believed\u2014if you had loved me as I loved you,\u201d she said.\n\nShe touched her finger to his lips, as he would have cried out.\n\n\u201cI do not think it is in your nature to feel much love for a woman, my\nfriend. If you had not loved your own way better than me, would you not\nhave entered the king\u2019s service to win me, when only that lay between\nus? Your land\u2014your chiefship over your men\u2014the freedom to do as you\npleased\u2014all those you loved; and what was left over, you gave to me. It\nwas not very much, was it? Yet perhaps it does not matter, since I was\nso glad to get it.\u201d\n\nThough her eyes were misty with tears, she held up her mouth to him\nbravely.\n\n\u201cI give you thanks for telling me,\u201d he whispered softly, when he had\nkissed her.\n\nAs Erling\u2019s voice sounded urgently, she drew her hood over her head and\nwas gone.\n\nIt was a soberly thoughtful man that was pacing the garden-paths when\nErling came back. They walked away the rest of the night in silence,\nwhile the moon went on in darkness, and the gray dawn which is neither\nlight nor shadow spread coldly over the sky.\n\nIt was this new expression which caught King Olaf\u2019s eye, when he and his\noutlaw faced each other again.\n\nWith the first burst of morning sunshine, the king came out of the hall\non his way to mass, followed by the high-born people of his household.\nBlinking laughingly in the dazzle, and drawing in great breaths of the\nfresh sweet air, the retinue made an odd contrast to the other group\nwaiting on the doorstep\u2014three swarthy thralls testing a coil of rope in\ntheir hairy fists, and Sigurd Asbiornsson once more ironed and guarded.\n\nKing Olaf stopped abruptly.\n\n\u201cHow is it that things which I dislike are always kept before my mind?\u201d\nhe demanded. \u201cWhy was he not put to death at sunrise?\u201d The guard\nanswered that the king had named no definite time, and they feared to\nmisunderstand his will.\n\n\u201cI have seldom heard a poorer excuse,\u201d King Olaf returned coldly.\n\nBut he did not make his will clearer. He remained scrutinizing the\nprisoner with a touch of uncertainty in his strongly marked brows.\nFearless, Sigurd Asbiornsson looked, as always, but for the first time\nthat something seemed gone from his boldness which had stirred the\nking\u2019s temper against him.\n\nOlaf smiled slowly as a test came to his mind.\n\n\u201cTo please your friends, Sigurd,\u201d he said, \u201cI will make you an offer\nwhich you can do as you like about accepting. It is the law of the land\nthat a man who kills a servant of the king shall undertake that man\u2019s\nservice, if the king will. Would you submit to that law, and undertake\nthe office of bailiff which Thorer Sel had, if I gave you life and\nsafety in return?\u201d\n\nHe gathered up his mantle to depart, as he concluded, so sure was he\nthat his offer would be rejected. Of all the throng, from Gudbrand\u2019s\ndaughter to Erling, not one believed that it stood any chance of\nacceptance. They almost ceased to breathe when\u2014slowly\u2014with a flaming\nface and the stiffness of a pride that was cracking at the joints,\nSigurd Asbiornsson bent his head and kissed the king\u2019s hand.\n\nNot to save his life could he have spoken. His power of speech did not\ncome back to him until the churchgoers had swept on across the court,\nand he was left alone with Astrid in his arms.\n\n\u201cDo you believe now that I love you?\u201d he asked, raising her face between\nhis hands.\n\nThen it smote his heart that he should even seem to reproach her, and he\nfinished lightly:\n\n\u201cWhat does it matter? We will make a jest of it between ourselves. Let\nthe world think me the king\u2019s man\u2014we know that I am yours!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              THE HOSTAGE\n\n\nI seek to tell of a Danish hostage, called Valgard the Fair, that in his\nyouth was ceded to our great Alfred by the Danish king Guthrum when they\ntwo made peace together in the year eight hundred and seventy-eight.\n\nFrom Denmark young Valgard came to England in the following of Ogmund\nMonks-bane, who was his elder brother and Guthrum\u2019s first war chief; and\nthough no warrior of more accursed memory than this same Ogmund ever fed\nthe ravens, it was known that toward his young brother alone of all\nliving things he showed a human heart. Wherefore those on whom it lay to\nchoose the hostages were swift to name the comely boy as the one pledge\nthat might clinch the Monks-bane\u2019s shifty faith. And that nothing might\nbe lacking, they further fixed it in the bond what would be the fate of\nValgard and the eleven other hostages if they that gave them should\nbreak any part of their oath; and it was this\u2014that the discipline of the\nHoly Church should take hold of them, and after that they should die a\nshameful death.\n\nA snared and a savage man was Ogmund Monks-bane when they brought this\nword to the tent of skins in which he laired; and it saddened him\nbesides that the boy Valgard strove to contend him, saying:\n\n\u201cIt will be no hindrance to you, kinsman. Never will you so much as\nthink of me when the battle-lust comes on you. And I shall bear it\nwell.\u201d\n\nIn our king\u2019s will at London, therefore, young Valgard grew into man\u2019s\nestate and, contrary to his expectations, throve mightily, discovering a\nrare aptitude for gentle accomplishments. And for that his heart was\nnoble as well as brave and he was as _d\u00e9bonaire_ as he was comely, the\nking and the royal household came to love him exceeding well until\u2014as\nthe years went by and the peace held\u2014they scarcely remembered that he\nmight one day stand as a scapegoat for loathsomest crimes against them.\n\nOnly Valgard himself never for the span of one candle\u2019s burning forgot\nit. Like poison at the bottom of a honeyed cup it lay behind every honor\nhe achieved. Yet even as he had promised his brother, he bore it well\nand gallantly enough\u2014until, in the sixth year of his captivity, it\nfortuned to him to fall in love.\n\nShe of whom he become enamoured was a young maid in the queen\u2019s service,\nwhose rightful name was Adeleve but whom men called Little Nun both by\nvirtue of the celestial sweetness of her face and because of her being\nbut newly come from a cloister school. And in this cloister they had\ntaught her so much of heaven and so little of earth that whenso her\nheart was taken by Valgard\u2019s brave and _d\u00e9bonaire_ ways she knew neither\nfear nor shame therein, but continued to demean herself with the lovely\nstraightforwardness of an angel or a child. Wherefore Valgard, who was\nused to women that smiled at him from under heavy lids or drew full red\nlips into rosebuds of enticement, might not dream that she felt more\nthan friendship. And since in her presence he was always silent and\nhumble as he had been before Our Blessed Lady herself, though elsewhere\nlight speeches sparkled on his lips as bubbles on the clear wine, he\nwist not for a long time the true name of what he felt.\n\nBut one day at that season of the year when the king\u2019s household rode\noften to hunt the wild boar in the woody groves that compassed London\nround, it happened to Valgard to become separated from the rest and\nstray alone through still and shadowy glades. There in the solitude, as\nwas ever his unhappy case, his gayety fell away and his forebodings\nclimbed up behind and went with him heavily. Riding thus, it chanced to\nhim to approach the spot where the queen and her maidens tarried and so\nto come upon the Little Nun herself, that also rode apart, following a\nbrook which sang as it went. Then at last was he made aware of his love,\nfor suddenly it was neither a dislike of death nor any rebellious wish\nto flee therefrom that possessed him, but solely the dread of being\nparted from her, which so racked him that he was in very agony.\n\nNow as soon as ever Little Nun perceived that a great trouble was upon\nhim she spoke straight from her heart, though timidly as a child knowing\nthe narrowness of its power, and prayed him to say whether his distress\nwere aught which her love might assuage. When he heard her speak thus\nsweetly and marked the angelic tenderness of her eyes under her little\ndove-colored hood, lo! everything fell clean out of his mind before one\nalmighty longing. Descending from his horse, he took her hands and spoke\nto her passionately, so:\n\n\u201cTell me whether you love me. My heart cries out for you with every\nbeat. Must it be as the voice of one calling into emptiness? Tell me\nthat you return my love and my life will be whole though it end\nto-night.\u201d\n\nThe Little Nun\u2019s face of cloistral paleness flushed deeply like an\nalabaster vase into which is being poured the red wine of the sacrament,\nbut her crystalline eyes neither fell nor turned aside.\n\n\u201cI love you as much as you love me\u2014and more,\u201d she answered softly.\n\nWhereupon he would have caught her in passionate arms, but that even as\nhe reached this pinnacle of bliss it came back to him how he was a\ndoomed man; and he was as one that is cast down from a height and\nstunned by the fall.\n\nAnon his voice returned, and sinking to his knee he begged her in broken\nwords to forgive the wrong he had done her in gaining her love, that\nwell knew himself to be set aside for shame and dole and apart from the\nfavor of woman.\n\nTo which the Little Nun listened as it might be one of God\u2019s angels,\nbending over the golden bar of Heaven, would listen to the wailing in\nthe Pit. And so soon as he paused she spoke with halting breath.\n\n\u201cAlas, could anything so cruel happen? Ah, no! The peace has held six\nyears\u2014the king believes it firm\u2014and every night and morning I will pray\nto Our Lady to change your brother\u2019s heart.\u201d\n\nAs she said this, her face bloomed again with her hope. But Valgard only\nbowed his head upon his hands and groaned; for that albeit he had faith\nin the Virgin, he knew the nature of Ogmund Monks-bane.\n\nSoon after, constraining himself to hardness for her sake, he rose and\ndrew her away and continued to speak with the dulness of one in great\npain, schooling her how she must put him from her heart and forget him.\n\nBut to that, when she had listened a while with widening eyes, the\nLittle Nun cried out piteously:\n\n\u201cAlas! what then shall I do with my love? It came into being before you\ncalled it\u2014it cannot cease at your bidding. Oh, if it be God\u2019s will that\nwe shall have a long life together, then God\u2019s will be done, but make\nnot a thwarted useless thing out of the love which He has permitted me!\nLet me give it to you. Even though it be too poor to ease you much, yet\nlet me give it! How else shall I find comfort?\u201d\n\nSuddenly, as their eyes met, she stretched out her hands to him with a\nlittle sobbing cry that was half piteous and half pitying. And so drew\nhim back, _malgre_ his will, until he had put his arms about her where\nshe sat in the saddle above him, when she gathered his head to her\nbreast and cherished it there, with little soft wordless sounds of\ncomforting.\n\nThus, for that he was so well-nigh spent with struggling, he leaned a\nwhile upon her love. And it heartened him. And he lifted his head,\nthinking to set burning lips to her sweet mouth.\n\nBut even as he thought to do this, something in himself or her checked\nhim, so that he kissed instead her small ministering hands. Wherefore\nthe Little Nun remained unstartled and blessedly trustful, and raising\nher eyes to the blue heavens of which they seemed so much a part prayed\nsoftly to Our Dear Lady to keep true the heart of Ogmund Monks-bane.\n\nThe fourth morning after this, the queen\u2019s maiden Adeleve was wedded to\nValgard the Hostage. And that day at noon did our benignant king and his\nhousewifely queen make a marriage feast for the young pair that both of\nthem held dear. A marriage feast, well-a-way!\n\nIt happened to the sweet bride to come to it last and alone, for that\nshe had lingered above to pray once more to her on whom she fixed her\nfaith. Blissfully enough she began the descent of the stairs that cored\nthe massive wall; but ere she reached the foot, where a door gave upon\nthe king\u2019s hall, dead was her joy. For this is what befell.\n\nFirst, a quavering shriek as of an aged woman stabbed by evil tidings;\nand after that a deathlike stillness. Then the door opened and a girl\nstaggered forth up the stairs, her hands groping before her as her\nstaring eyes had been sightless, the while she moaned over and over the\nname of her soldier lover.\n\nThough she knew not why, little Adeleve shrank from the groping hands\nand crept by them down the stairs. Whither rose these words in a man\u2019s\nloud voice:\n\n\u201c\u2014but last week came a load of Danish pirates to the shore, reeking of\nslaughter and gorged with Irish spoil. And every night thereafter a band\nof them sat at drink with the Monks-bane, stirring his fighting lust,\nuntil\u2014\u2014\u201d\n\nHere the voice was lost in the outburst of many voices, till it\noverleapt them hoarsely to answer a question from the king.\n\n\u201cThe twoscore English soldiers I named to your grace; besides all the\nnuns of Saint Helena\u2019s that lie stark in their blood\u2014\u2014\u201d\n\nThen once again the tumult rose, which now there was no overleaping, and\nthe bride cowering against the wall saw how all heads turned toward him\nwho stood opposite the king in the mockery of gay feasting clothes. And\nsuddenly one called down Christ\u2019s curse on the race of Ogmund\nMonks-bane, and a second echoed the cry. Whereat the other Danish\nhostages\u2014to show that their hands were clean\u2014took up the shout more\nfierce than any, and smote Valgard so that he reeled under their fists.\nAnd the aged woman whose son had been slain flung her cup of wine in his\nface.\n\nThereafter the young wife saw only the figure of her doomed lord upon\nwhom it seemed that the curses descended as a visible blight, withering\nto ghastliness his fresh beauty and blasting his spirit so that he\nshrank farther and farther from the damning looks and tongues till he\nmight no longer in any wise endure them, but calling in agony upon his\nGod strove with his hands to stop his sight and his hearing. And when\npresently he became aware of the Little Nun approaching, he cried out to\nknow whether she also was come to curse him, and bent his arms around\nhis head as against a blow.\n\nBut even as he did this, he met the anguished love in her eyes and saw\nhow she was laboring to make of her fragile self a buckler for him\nagainst the press of crowding bodies; whereupon he caught hold of her\nshoulder and held to her as a man sinking into Hell might hold to the\nrobe of an angel. Until brutal hands thrust her one way and dragged him\nthe other.\n\nNow the sentence was that he should die at sunrise, unto which time the\nChurch should have him to chasten. And this sentence our king might not\nalter, for that he was called the Truth-teller and had sworn to take the\natonement of life for any breach of the faith. But this much he granted,\nout of the pity and love he had toward the young pair, that they might\nbe together when the end drew near. And stranger than betrothal or\nmarriage feast was this vigil of their wedding night!\n\nStrange was all the world now to the Little Nun, since the arch of her\nHeaven had fallen about her with the destruction of its keystone, which\nwas her faith in the Virgin. As the white dove of the Ark hovering over\na changed earth whereon it might see no familiar foothold, she hung\nfalteringly on the threshold of the king\u2019s chapel, while the bells\ntolled the midnight hour, gazing at the group of deathful men looming\namid blended smoke and starlight and torch-glare, at the pitiless\nshining figure of Our Lady above the altar, at him who stood in grim\nendurance before it, stripped to naked feet and a single garment of\nhorsehair.\n\nWhen Valgard felt her eyes and turned his set face toward her, she\nfluttered to him as the dove to the Ark. But no longer to brood or\nminister; only to cling to him in utter helpless woe of her helpless\nlove. And when it happened to her hand to touch his horsehair shirt\nwhere it was wet with the blood of his atonement, she screamed sharply\nand was like to go wild with weeping over him and lamenting that she\nmight not bear any of his punishment on her own soft flesh. It was he\nthat kneeling on the stones gathered her to his breast and cherished\nher, speaking to comfort her such words of resignation as no priest\u2019s\nscourge had drawn from him with his life-blood.\n\nLo! it was so that from the very helplessness of her love he drew his\nbest strength, that he no longer cared anything at all for his own woe\nbut only for lightening hers. When she cried out piteously that she must\nalways fear Christ\u2019s Mother now her whole life long, and all the world\nsaving him alone, he spoke with tenderest artfulness, thus:\n\n\u201cFor my sake then, heart beloved of my heart! Be brave for my\nsake\u2014because your tears are the only part of my doom that is heavier\nthan I can bear.\u201d\n\nWhich was the one plea in all the world that had a meaning for her, so\nthat she tried obediently to choke down her sobs.\n\nYet which was the easier to bear, her courage or her tears, it were hard\nto say. When the time of parting came and she had suffered him to loosen\nher clinging hands and fold them upon her breast and leave her, a little\nwhite and shaking figure at the Virgin\u2019s feet, it seemed to Valgard\nlooking back that death was easier to him than life, and he pressed with\nmad haste upon those who went before him to the door.\n\nNow in this vill it was that the king\u2019s chapel was hollowed out of the\nwall of the king\u2019s hall; wherefore the opening of the door permitted\nValgard and those surrounding him to look down into the great dim room\nwherein our king kept sorrowful vigil with his knights, and to behold\nalso a man that stood before the high-seat with the mud and mire of the\nroad yet besmirching him. Upon whom Valgard\u2019s glance fell amazedly for\nthat he knew him to be a Danish thrall and his brother\u2019s trusted slave,\nalbeit the Monks-bane had used him so cruelly that some of his features\nwere lacking.\n\nAs the door opened, the thrall began speaking, thus, in the dull voice\nof one who has neither wit nor will but only dogged faithfulness:\n\n\u201cThis is the message of Ogmund Monks-bane, that because as soon as he\ngot into his senses again he disliked the thought that he should cause\nthe death of his brother whom he loved, he sends you this atonement.\u201d\n\nSaying which, he thrust his hand under his cloak and drew therefrom, by\nthe knotted yellow hair, a bloody head. And the ashen face on the head\nwas the face of Ogmund Monks-bane.\n\nThrough stillness, the thrall spoke again. \u201cDo you accept this\natonement, king?\u201d\n\nTo whom, after a little time has passed, our king answered in a strange\nvoice: \u201cI accept this atonement.\u201d\n\nThen, his task being accomplished, the thrall loosed an awful discordant\nsound of grief; and raising the head between his palms kissed it on\neither cheek, crying:\n\n\u201cI slew you and I brought you hither because I have never dared go\nagainst your will in anything, but even you cannot hinder me from\nfollowing you now!\u201d\n\nWherewith he slew himself with the knife he had at his belt. And the\nsound of his falling body broke the spell, so that the bars of silence\nwere let down and men\u2019s voices rushed in like lowing cattle.\n\nExcepting only in the little chapel in the wall. There Valgard stood as\na man in a dream, gazing on the dead face of his brother; while the\nLittle Nun, clasping him close, yet lifted awe-filled eyes to Our Lady\nthat thus in her own inscrutable way answered the prayer to keep alive\nin the nature of an evil man its one good part.\n\nLet us all give thanks that there is such a Lady, and pray that she may\nharken to us in our need!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                           AS THE NORNS WEAVE\n\n\nThere was a man named Thorolf; he was Thrain\u2019s son, Eric the White\u2019s\nson, of Norway. He kept house at Thorolfstede, in the Rangrivervales in\nIceland. He was an honorable man, and wealthy in goods. His wife\u2019s name\nwas Thorhilda, but she does not come into the story for she died the\nyear after she was married to him. The name of their daughter was Rodny.\nWhile she was yet in her childhood, it could be seen that she was going\nto be fair of face, and her eyes were as blue as the sea where it is\ndeepest.\n\nLambi was the name of another man, a son of Grim the Easterling. He\ndwelt in the east dales when he was at home, but he was more often at\nThorolf\u2019s for the bond of friendship was strong between them. He was a\ntrue-hearted man, but somewhat soft-tempered. The name of his son was\nSkapti, and he comes shortly into the story.\n\nNow one spring while Rodny was still a child in years, Thorolf took a\nsickness and died; but before he breathed his last he spoke to Lambi and\nasked him to see after his daughter and take in hand the care of her\ngoods, and Lambi gave his word to do that.\n\nSo Thorolf died and was laid in a cairn in the Rangrivervales, and Lambi\ncame to live at Thorolfstede to see after Rodny and her household. And\nSkapti, his son, came with him. And so they sat for ten winters, and\nnothing noteworthy happened.\n\nAt the end of that time Rodny was grown up, and the fairest of women to\nlook upon. Some said that she was rather wilful in her temper, but for\nall that she was one of the best loved of maidens. A fast friend she\nwas, too, and warm-hearted and generous; and the best proof of that is\nthat she never grudged Skapti, Lambi\u2019s son, his way about anything.\n\nSkapti was this manner of man. He was so born that one foot was withered\nand there was a hump on his back, and he never waxed large of frame or\nsturdy. But in his face he was the most handsome of men, and his hair\nhung down in long curls of good color. It was thought that his father\u2019s\nrearing had not bettered his disposition. In order that his spirit\nshould not be humbled by his deformity, Lambi praised his face and his\nwit and all he did, and begged everyone else to do the same; and the\nupshot of it was that Skapti thought there was no man like himself for\ndash and keenness, and was always bragging and boasting, and every one\nhad to give way to him or have his wrath. He had a shrewd mind, but he\nwas so spiteful that many were afraid of him.\n\nNow a fourth man is named in the story. He was called Hallvard, the son\nof Asgrim the White. He owned a good homestead in the Laxriverdales, but\nhe lived more on his longship than on land for every spring he went\na-sea-roving. He was the most soldier-like of men, and the best skilled\nin arms; tall in growth, too, and powerful and well-knit. Some said that\nhis wits were rather slow because he lived so much where it was of most\nimportance that hands should be quick; still for all that he was\nfair-spoken and bountiful, and better liked and more humble than any\nother man.\n\nIt happened one spring that he rode to the Assembly, with all his\nshipmates at his back. Many great chiefs were there besides, but\neveryone said that no band was so soldier-like as his; and a group of\nwomen that stood near the booths of the Rangrivervale men turned their\nheads to look after him; and one of them who knew him called out merrily\nand bade him stop and talk to them.\n\nHe got red in his face at that, for his mates were much given to gibes\nand jeering; still he would not refuse her; so he rode back and got off\nhis horse and greeted her well, and told her all the news she wished to\nhear. It is told about his dress that it was of red-scarlet and very\nshowy, and he had on his head a gilded helmet that King Sigurd had given\nhim, and his face was brown from the sea-winds.\n\nNow the maiden that stood next to the one that had hailed him was Rodny,\nand no woman there was as fair as she. She was so clad that she had on a\nkirtle of a rich blue color that trailed behind her when she walked, and\na silver girdle around her waist. Hallvard could not keep his eyes off\nher as he talked, until his tongue began to blunder and say the same\nthing twice over. Rodny kept her feelings better in hand; still it could\nbe seen that she listened eagerly to everything he said, and the color\ntrembled in her cheeks as the Northern Lights tremble in the sky.\n\nAs soon as he got a chance to speak apart with the woman he knew,\nHallvard asked her what maiden that might be. The woman told him; and\nthen she managed it so that he should talk alone with Rodny, though the\nothers stood near and spoke among themselves. And they talked together a\nlong time; though sometimes there were silences between them, but\nneither of them seemed to mind that.\n\nAt last Hallvard said: \u201cMany strange wonders have I seen abroad, yet the\nthing which seems strangest to me I see here in Iceland.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d says Rodny.\n\n\u201cIt is that a maid like you should be unwed.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d says Rodny.\n\nHallvard said: \u201cIt is easily seen that you would be thrown away on any\nmatch you should make; yet that would not hinder me from trying my luck\nif you thought me good enough to ask for you.\u201d\n\nShe was rather slow in answering that, but at last she spoke in a\nwell-behaved way and said there could be no two minds about that since\nevery one thought him a man of the greatest mark.\n\n\u201cI might be all that,\u201d said Hallvard, \u201cand still not be at all to your\nmind. I should be glad if you would say that you would have nothing in\nyour heart against such a bargain.\u201d\n\nThen Rodny could no longer keep herself altogether in hand, and she\nbegan to laugh a little and said that he was hard to deal with, and that\nperhaps if she should say that she had nothing against the bargain, he\nmight answer that that was too bad because he had no mind to it. But the\nend of her jesting was that she broke off without finishing, for he got\nred in his face again, and it could be seen that he was much in earnest.\n\n\u201cI should have thought that the risk as to that lay all on my side,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cbut now I will say right out that my life will never seem good to\nme again unless I get you to wife.\u201d\n\nThen Rodny answered him well and straightforwardly, and said: \u201cFrom what\nI have seen of you so far, I think I could love you well; but you must\nsee my foster-father, Lambi, about it; though it will go as I say in the\nend.\u201d\n\nAfter that they left off speaking together.\n\nBut the next day Hallvard came to Lambi\u2019s booth, and all his shipmates\nwith him to show him honor, though they had gibed much when they first\nheard what he had it in mind to do.\n\nSkapti sat in front of the booth entertaining himself with the antics of\na tumbling-girl, that cut capers there while an old man played on a\nfiddle. The man\u2019s name was Kol, and his nickname was Fiddling Kol.\nJofried was the name of the girl, and she was Fiddling Kol\u2019s daughter.\nShe had on a man\u2019s kirtle, and she was well-shaped and not ugly of face,\nthough one could tell by her mouth that she was determined in\ndisposition. They were vagabond folk, that went from house to house and\nlodged where they could. Skapti always talked with the girl because she\nhad the greatest store of gossip at her tongue\u2019s end; while on her side\nit could be seen that she set a value on every look he gave her.\n\nHallvard greeted Skapti kindly, and his mates did the same, for when\nthey saw his deformity they thought that there was more than enough that\nwas wanting in his life; and Skapti took their greeting well because it\nseemed to him that they could not but be envious of the fairness of his\nface. And so they talked together smoothly, for a while, and Skapti\noffered to give them his help about their errand\u2014whatever it might\nbe\u2014and sent a man to call Lambi out, when he heard that that was what\nthey wanted; but he himself went back to his sport with the\ntumbling-girl.\n\nLambi came out of the booth at once, and gave them a good welcome. After\nthat they fell to talking, and Hallvard asked for Rodny, and added that\nhe had spoken to her about it and the match was not as far from her mind\nas might have been expected.\n\nNow Lambi had long had it at heart to wed Rodny to his son, and there\nwas no bargain that he would not have been more willing to make than\nthis one. And at the same time he knew that it would be pulling an oar\nagainst a strong current to go against Rodny\u2019s will. So he held his\npeace for a while, and after that he answered in this way:\n\n\u201cEvery Spring since you have been able to stretch your hand over a\nsword, Hallvard, you have fared abroad; and for all that we in Iceland\ncan tell, you may have wooed a maiden in every land your ship has\ntouched. It is said that the sea\u2019s own fickleness soaks into the bones\nof them who live on her, and many a man has done such things and been\nthought no less of. But with Rodny I will not have it so, and these are\nthe terms I lay down. You shall sail abroad as you had the intention to\ndo, and there shall be no betrothal between you; but if you think of her\noften enough while you are gone so that four times during the summer you\nsend a man out to Iceland to greet her from you, then when you come home\nin the Autumn the bargain shall be made. But if you do not think of her\nthat often, it is unlikely that she would get any pleasure out of her\nlove even if she were wedded to you, and you shall not get her.\u201d\n\nHallvard said at once: \u201cI agree to those terms. And now let us take\nwitnesses.\u201d\n\nSo they stood up and shook hands, and the bargain was struck; though\nHallvard\u2019s friends murmured among themselves and said that such terms\nought not to be laid down for a man like Hallvard.\n\nThen Hallvard said: \u201cI only make this condition\u2014that Rodny should give\nme her word not to betroth herself to any other man while I am gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no fault to find with that,\u201d said Lambi.\n\nSo he sent for Rodny, and she came thither, and with her three women.\nShe spoke to them all well and courteously; and after that she sat down,\nand Lambi told her all about the bargain and left nothing out.\n\nIt could be seen from her way that she thought the terms far too strong.\nAnd when she heard what it was that Hallvard wanted of her, she answered\nwithout waiting:\n\n\u201cI will promise that, and more besides. I will promise that when his\nship comes to land in the Autumn, I will come down half-way between my\nhouse and the shore to meet him, that some honor may be done him, as too\nmuch has not been shown so far.\u201d\n\nHallvard said that it was honor enough that he got the right to woo her,\nstill he would not fling back the kindness she offered him; and they\nmade a bargain about that also. After that, they bade each other\nfarewell, and Hallvard and his friends rode away to their booth.\n\nNow it must be told how Skapti wearied of his pastime and came in and\nasked his father what it might be that Hallvard wanted, and Lambi told\nhim of the bargain he had made.\n\nAt first it looked as Skapti could not believe it, and then it seemed as\nif he would never leave off scolding.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d he said, \u201cit is proved true what I have long suspected, that you\nare a doting old man that no longer knows how to behave with sense, when\nyou thus give away to another man the woman that I have always had it in\nmy own mind to marry.\u201d\n\nSo he went on, and made it known in every way that he thought he had\nbeen wrongfully used.\n\nThen Lambi said: \u201cYou take it ill, kinsman, and there is some excuse for\nyou. But now this is to be taken into consideration, that Rodny had set\nher heart on the man, and his honor is great everywhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cHis body is great,\u201d said Skapti, \u201cas big as a bear\u2019s; and he shall yet\ndance to my wit as a bear dances to a willow pipe.\u201d\n\nThen they had many words about it, until they were both wroth; and Lambi\nsaid:\n\n\u201cThere is no use in troubling oneself about what is done and over, but I\nsee now that my rearing has made you crooked in your temper as well, and\nlimping in your sense.\u201d\n\nAfter that he went away; and Skapti flew into a great rage, so that\nthere was no speaking to him; and he laid saddle on a horse and rode\nwithout drawing rein until he came to the booths of the Laxriverdale\nmen.\n\nIt happened that Hallvard and his friends were still out of doors; and\nthey were in a merry mood, and drank and made jesting wishes about the\nbridegroom; and Hallvard wore a joyful face, and took all their jibing\nblithely.\n\nWhen Skapti rode up, Hallvard greeted him well and asked him to get down\nand drink with them. But Skapti began at once to talk in the most\nill-tempered way, and the end of his scolding was that he bade Hallvard\nturn his steps and his thoughts away from Rodny from that time\nhenceforward because he had the intention to wed her himself.\n\nNow in the beginning of his speech it was so that Hallvard looked at him\nand did not know what to make of him. And in the middle of it, his\ntemper got a little tried. But when he came to the end, Hallvard burst\nout laughing. And his friends began to laugh, one after the other; and\nno one took further heed of Skapti, but all went back to their drinking.\n\nIt is said that Skapti was so wroth, and had his temper so little in\nhand, that he wept. Then he went away by himself, aside from other men,\nand stayed so a long while. After that he rode over the plain until he\nfound Jofried, the tumbling-girl. He talked long and low to her, and no\nman knew what passed between them. But when they stood up to part,\nSkapti said this out loud:\n\n\u201cSo things shall take this turn, that she shall not come down to meet\nhim when his ship makes land next Fall, nor shall he have courage enough\nto follow her up in her hall. And then it will be put to proof whether\nor not I am to be set aside and made game of.\u201d\n\nThen the tumbling-girl spoke so as to flatter him, and said that she had\nnever heard a plan that promised to work out better.\n\nSkapti swelled out his chest and said: \u201cJofried, this is how it is, that\nwhen I look at the clods around me it seems as if it were given me to\nknow their every weak spot; and I declare with truth that I can take\ntheir life-threads and weave them as the Norns weave, and my judgments\nare no more to be spoken against than theirs!\u201d\n\nAfter that, Skapti rode home. But Jofried did as he had bidden her and\nwent down to the shore where Hallvard\u2019s ship lay, and prayed Hallvard to\ngive her and her father leave to fare abroad with him that they might\nshow their accomplishments to other audiences and increase their goods.\n\nHallvard gave them leave; and now the story follows the ship for a\nwhile.\n\nShortly after, they got a fair wind and sailed away to sea. Hallvard\nstood by the steering-oar, but Jofried sat on the deck at his feet. When\nthey could no longer see the land, Jofried began to weep much and bemoan\nherself, so that Hallvard asked what was on her mind.\n\nJofried said: \u201cI would give all I own that I had never come hither; and\nit will stand me in little stead though I get all the goods in Norway,\nif by going away I lose my chance of Skapti\u2019s love.\u201d\n\nHallvard laughed and said: \u201cI did not know before that Skapti got on so\nwell with women. But tell me who it is that you think is likely to rob\nyou of his heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is Rodny, Thorolf\u2019s daughter,\u201d said Jofried. \u201cHe has always looked\nupon her with eyes of love, but now I can see by his manner that his\nlove is at the harvest; and the likelihood is that they will be wedded\nbefore we get back.\u201d And as she said this, she wept.\n\nBut Hallvard looked as if he did not know whether to laugh or get wroth,\nand at last he said: \u201cI think there is no need for this to look so big\nin your eyes, messmate. Skapti sets too much store by himself to love\nanyone who does not love him, and there is little danger that Rodny will\never do that.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut she will do it,\u201d Jofried answered, \u201cfor he is the most handsome man\nthat men ever saw; and his hair is as fine as silk; and there is so much\nof it that it hides his lame back like a cloak of gold.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is a little crooked stick with a gilded head,\u201d says Hallvard.\n\n\u201cYou can call him that if you want to,\u201d said Jofried, \u201cbut it only\nproves what I knew before, that you know nothing at all about women; for\nwith a woman, a gilded head counts for more than a great clumsy body\nlike a dancing-bear\u2019s.\u201d\n\nNow it had happened to Hallvard, each time he came before Rodny, to feel\nhimself very big and clumsy and out of place; so he got red in his face\nat that, and went away to another part of the ship, and he and Jofried\nsaw little of each other for a time.\n\nBut when they had been out three weeks they came to Norway, and sailed\ninto the Bay there and made land at the King\u2019s Crag. And Hallvard went\nup to the town, where some trading-booths were, and bought a good gold\nfinger-ring and sent it out to Rodny on a ship that stood ready to sail.\nJofried praised the ring much, and Hallvard was so pleased at that that\nhe answered her eagerly and said:\n\n\u201cIt is no lie what you say of me, Jofried, that I know little about\nwomen; yet this has occurred to me which should also be borne in mind,\nthat Rodny is different from other maidens. I know it for true that she\nsets great store by weapon-skill and deeds of might, and I tell you for\nyour comfort that she will never give herself away to a man who spends\nhis days kissing the maidservants by the fire.\u201d\n\nBut Jofried shook her head and answered: \u201cThat may well be, master; and\nyet Rodny is a woman for all that, and all women think alike. And the\nproof of that is this, that although I am no more than a gangrel woman,\nI have the same feelings as a maiden reared in a bower; and to me as to\nthem, all other men look like shambling giants when Skapti, Lambi\u2019s son,\nis by.\u201d\n\nIn this manner she kept on speaking about Skapti\u2019s fairness until it\nseemed to Hallvard as if it could be no otherwise than so; and he got\nwroth and said that if it went as she foretold, Skapti would not be so\nhandsome of feature after he got through with him. And after that he was\nvery short with her for a while.\n\nThen they sailed from the Bay out into the open sea again; and there\nthey fell in with sea-rovers and a great fight sprung up; and they got\nthe victory, and much goods. Among the spoil there was a necklace of\nfine gold and the best workmanship; and Hallvard took that for his\nshare, and sent it out to Rodny by a trading-ship that was shaping her\ncourse toward Iceland. But before he sent it, he showed it to Jofried\nand said:\n\n\u201cDo you not think that will get me some favor in her eyes?\u201d\n\nJofried answered: \u201cGood is the gift, but methinks it would be still\nbetter if it were not dumb.\u201d\n\nHe asked her what she meant by that, and she went on: \u201cI should think\nany one could see that when Rodny has hung the necklace around her neck,\nshe will think no further about it; but Skapti will sit by her side and\nbe always speaking so as to flatter and gladden her, and the end will be\nthat he will have all her thoughts; for in the whole of Iceland there is\nnot his equal for a quick wit.\u201d\n\nNow Hallvard knew himself for a slow-witted man, so his heart went down\nat this; and thereafter he took no pleasure in the gifts he sent. And\nfrom that day forth he grew very silent, so that men noticed it.\n\nAt first no one could guess what was at the bottom of it, but soon\nJofried repeated everything that she had told him about Skapti.\n\nAll spoke against it, in the beginning; but the end was that they\nbelieved her. After that the matter was their daily talk, when Hallvard\nwas not by; and the more they talked, the more wroth they became for his\nsake. At last they went so far as to go before him, one after the other,\nand beg him not to stop at the Rangrivervales as he had intended, lest\nRodny should break the tryst and make a laughing-stock of them, but to\nhold his course north to the Laxriverdales and send a man back from\nthere to see how the land lay.\n\nHallvard listened to them all without speaking, but it was easy to see\nthat each piece of advice left him more sick at heart than before.\n\nAnd now the days run on until the time comes to turn their faces toward\nIceland.\n\nThen one night when the shipmates were drinking under the tents on the\nforecastle, Hallvard came among them and said:\n\n\u201cI have taken counsel with myself about what you want of me; and though\nI will not sail past the Rangrivervales as you wish, neither will I ask\nyou to ride up to the trysting-place, as was intended. But we will so\nmanage it that we come to land after sunset, and make a night-camp on\nthe shore; and there we will be that night and the next day. And if it\nhappens that during that time Rodny sends anyone down to us with a\nbidding, we will ride up to her hall and make the excuse that we could\nnot come before because we had much goods to see to; but if she does not\nsend any welcome down, then\u2014when we have camped on the shore one more\nnight\u2014we will weigh anchor and sail away north.\u201d\n\nAll said that was a better way than to keep the tryst and run the risk\nof being laughed at. And now the story goes back to Thorolfstede, and\nwhat happened there.\n\nWhen Hallvard had been away six weeks, a ship came out from Norway and\nran into the Rangriver, and a man that was on board came to Thorolfstede\nand greeted Rodny from Hallvard and gave her the gold finger-ring that\nHallvard had sent. And Rodny was glad, and put it on her hand where she\ncould see it all the time that she stood at her loom; and at night the\nhand that wore it rested under her cheek.\n\nBut when the next month had worn away, and that trading-ship came into\nthe river which had on board the necklace that Hallvard had taken from\nthe sea-rovers, Skapti went down to meet her, and sought out Hallvard\u2019s\nman and made him drunk and robbed him of the necklace and threw it into\nthe river. And when the man came into his wits again and saw what had\nbefallen him, he was so frightened that he dared not come near Rodny at\nall, but fled back to the ship and stayed there while she held her\ncourse northward. And Skapti came home and told Rodny that no greeting\nhad been sent.\n\nRodny was rather cast down at first, for she had made sure that the ship\nwould have some word for her. Still it was not long before she had\nthought of many good reasons why Hallvard might have been hindered from\nsending; and she looked at her ring more often than before, and was soon\nlight-hearted again. So another month passes away.\n\nThen a third ship came out from Norway, and on her was one of Hallvard\u2019s\nmen that had in his keeping for Rodny a brooch of gold with four silver\ncrosses hanging from it. But Skapti went down to meet him, and then it\nwas the same story over again. The man leapt overboard and swam to a\nship that was just pulling out for the east. But Skapti went home and\ntold Rodny that no greetings had come.\n\nAt that Rodny held her peace for a long while; and once tears came into\nher eyes, and that was not her way. But still, when Lambi spoke and said\nthat it began to look as if her lover had forgotten her, she answered\nquickly and said:\n\n\u201cIf he has forgotten me, it is in doing deeds that men will praise; and\nso it may well be forgiven him. And besides, it will not be long now\nbefore he remembers me again.\u201d And in this way she answered all who\nfound fault with him, and showed herself big-hearted in everything.\n\nBut when the Summer had worn away till it lacked but five weeks of\nWinter, a fourth ship came out of the east; and Rodny got no greetings\nthat time either, for the man that was bringing a gold arm-ring to her\nwas in such haste to take passage back again that he handed over his\ncharge to Skapti of his own free will, and rowed out to another ship as\nfast as he could go. And Skapti threw the gift into the sea, and told\nRodny the same lie as before.\n\nThen Rodny could no longer speak up for Hallvard, but sat biting her\nlips in silence, when Lambi spoke against him and said how much better\nit was to make bargains with men whose lives she knew all about. Men\nthought that this time her pride was put to a hard trial. Yet she never\nspoke any ill words of Hallvard.\n\nAnd now the time goes on until the last of the days before winter comes.\nOne day at even, Rodny\u2019s shepherd came galloping up to the door and said\nthat Hallvard\u2019s ship had sailed into the river. Skapti and everyone\nlooked at Rodny; and first her face was as though it were all blood, and\nthen it was as white to look on as the moon.\n\nSkapti thought there was little risk, but that her temper would jump the\nway he wanted it to, and yet to make sure he spoke up sharp and quick\nand said:\n\n\u201cNow Hallvard has forgotten much, but one thing I hope he will remember,\nand that is that he has promised to meet you half-way between your hall\nand the shore; for you would get the greatest shame if you went down and\nhe was not there.\u201d\n\nThen Lambi said: \u201cIf you will lean on my counsel, foster-daughter, you\nwill call up your pride and stay at home. Hallvard has broken agreements\nenough to set you free, and more besides; and it is even as my son says,\nthat mocking tongues will not be wanting to shame you if you keep a\ntryst that your lover has forgotten.\u201d\n\nBut Rodny, when she had held her peace for a little, answered them\nslowly and said: \u201cIt is true that Hallvard has seemed to forget me, and\nthat my pride has been sorely tried; and it is no less true that if he\ngives me fresh cause for anger, I may let my temper go as far as it\nwill. But now you both show how little you guess what love is in a\nwoman\u2019s breast, or you would know that while there is any chance at all\nthat he may prove himself guiltless of meaning disrespect toward me, I\ncare no more about mocking tongues than I do about the blowing of the\nwind.\u201d\n\nAfter that she went away, and at first Skapti thought matters had taken\na bad turn. But shortly he saw that it was unlikely that Hallvard would\nkeep the tryst himself, and that would become a fresh cause of strife\nbetween them; and then he was merry again.\n\nNow it must be told how Rodny rode the next morning to the\ntrysting-place, and Lambi and Skapti and ten men with her. And when they\ngot there, there was no one to meet them.\n\n\u201cWhat did I tell you?\u201d said Skapti.\n\n\u201cIt is early yet,\u201d replied Rodny; and so they sat for a while.\n\nThen there came the noise of hoofs trampling over brush. But it was only\none of Rodny\u2019s house-carles that had taken horse and come after her to\ntell her that he had just been up on a high hill that overlooked the\nriver, and there he had seen Hallvard\u2019s men camping on the shore, and\ntaking no steps to get ready to ride, but lying about on the sand and\namusing themselves with the tumbling-girl.\n\nRodny made him tell it three times over, and then she was so wroth that\nno one had ever seen any woman so wroth before. She swung her horse\nabout and was for riding home without a word, when Hallvard came out of\nthe wood before her, red in his face and out of breath because he had\ncome on foot from the shore while his mates thought him sleeping on the\nship.\n\nAs soon as Skapti saw that, it seemed to him that he had got into a\nluckless state; and he slipped behind a bush and made off toward the\nshore to find Jofried and scold her for her great falling-off of wit.\nBut Hallvard went up to Rodny and gave her a joyful greeting; and after\na little she welcomed him with both hands.\n\nThen he said: \u201cI see that you dislike my tardiness, and I want to beg\noff from your wrath; for it is the truth that I came as fast as I\ncould.\u201d\n\nRodny said: \u201cBut where are your friends, that you come alone and\nunattended like a man of no honor?\u201d\n\nHallvard seemed to find that hard to answer, and he waited a while; but\nat last he said: \u201cI will tell it just as it is and not lie about it. I\ndid not want my mates along for fear that you would not keep faith with\nme, and I should be put to shame before them. And now I see that I have\nbehaved like a great fool from the beginning; though the reason is that\nit seemed so wondrous a thing that you should love a man like me, that I\ncould hardly believe it when you were no longer before my eyes.\u201d\n\nAt that Rodny was so well pleased that she did not want him to see how\nmuch pleased she was, and kept her eyes on her hands where they lay in\nhis. But shortly he spoke again, and then his voice was a little\ndown-hearted.\n\n\u201cThough I see,\u201d said he, \u201cthat you did not like my gifts, since you wear\nthem neither on your neck nor your breast nor your arm. And yet I had\nhoped that they would please you a little.\u201d\n\n\u201cGifts!\u201d said Rodny. Then he began to ask questions, and it came out\nthat she had never set eyes on the pretty things.\n\nHallvard was so wroth that it looked for a while as if some man would\nhave to go down before him. But Rodny took it in quite another way.\n\n\u201cIt is to me as though I had got the three best gifts in the world,\u201d\nsaid she. \u201cAnd I care not a whit what became of the gold so long as you\nremembered to send it.\u201d\n\nWith that, she slipped off her horse and put her arms around Hallvard\u2019s\nneck and kissed him; and thereafter their love ran smoothly enough.\n\nAnd now all that is left to tell is how Skapti came down to the shore\nand began to scold Jofried, and she answered in this way:\n\n\u201cNo more of the blame for this lies on me than on you; for it is proved\nby this that though you know much of men\u2019s weaknesses, you know nothing\nat all about the strong parts of their natures. And now you may have\nyour choice of two things\u2014either you shall take me to wife and give me\nequal rights with yourself over your goods, or I shall go to Hallvard\nand tell him everything about this plan, and then you will have his\nwrath to bear, and you know as well as I whether you would be able to\nstand up under that.\u201d\n\nBecause he thought he knew enough of her to be sure that she would do as\nshe said if he did not give way to her, Skapti took her to wife; though\nhe thought the choice a hard one. They went away into the east dales to\nlive on a homestead that Lambi gave them; and Jofried stood up for her\nrights in word and deed.\n\nAnd here we end the story of how the Norns wove.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                     HOW THOR RECOVERED HIS HAMMER\n\n\n                            In Three Parts.\n\n\nAs I have told you before, Bilskirner, the palace of Thor the\nStrong-One, was built in his kingdom of Thrudvang, the realm that lay\nbeyond the thunder-clouds. It was the very largest palace that was ever\nroofed over, for it had five hundred and forty halls beneath its silver\ndome; and it was so dazzling bright that when people on earth caught a\nglimpse of it through the clouds, they blinked and said they had seen\nlightning. In a tremendous hall in the centre of it, Thor spent most of\nhis time when he was not away fighting giants or attending\nassembly-meetings. There were benches all around the walls for his\nfollowers; gleaming weapons hung above them; a fire blazed on the golden\nhearth; and in the middle of the line of seats the Strong-One had his\nsplendid shining throne or high-seat.\n\nOne would have supposed that such a bright place would have been\ndifficult to sleep in, yet here every night, when the feasting was over,\nthe members of the household stretched themselves on the cushioned\nbenches and took their rest; and here, on this particular morning of\nwhich I am going to tell you, they all lay sleeping soundly\u2014perhaps even\nsnoring, if the truth were known. Thor leaned back in his high-seat, his\nred beard tossed up and down by his deep breathing. Loki the Sly-One,\nwho was visiting him, sprawled unconscious among the cushions beside\nhim; even the fire was slumbering and only roused now and then to wink a\ndrowsy red eye down among the embers.\n\nAmid all this peace and comfort, Thor\u2019s bushy brows began to frown as\nthough a bad dream were troubling him. You know how proud he was of the\nhammer that the dwarfs had made for him? He called it The Crusher\n(Mjolner) because nothing could withstand a blow from it; and always\nwhile he slept it stood on the floor leaning against the arm of his\nseat, within easy reach of his hand. Now he dreamed that Thrym, the\ngiant king, had stolen it and borne it away to his stronghold.\n\nHe awoke with a start and sat up and looked about him. He was safe in\nhis own hall, surrounded by his own men. It was impossible that anything\ncould have happened. Yet\u2014just to make sure\u2014he put out his hand and felt\nfor The Crusher.\n\nIf you will believe me, it really was gone!\n\nThe Strong-One uttered such a shout that down on the earth people\nthought they had heard a thunder-clap. His hair and his beard rose and\nquivered like a million tiny flames. He bent over and shook the sleeping\nSly-One.\n\n\u201cMark, now, Loki, what I say! What no one knows on earth or in high\nheaven\u2014my hammer is stolen!\u201d\n\nLoki was instantly awake. He was a very handsome youth and one of the\ncleverest of all the mighty beings who lived above the clouds. Sometimes\nhe was more clever than honest, which is why I call him the Sly-One.\nThere came a time when he was so wicked that he brought a terrible\npunishment upon himself. But just now his shrewdness was of great use to\nThor.\n\nHe answered as soon as he had heard about the dream, \u201cIt is likely that\nyou are right and that Thrym is the thief. But it would be unadvisable\nfor you to go to him. You are so fiery that you would kill him before\nyou had learned anything. I will borrow the feather-dress of Freyja the\nLovely and do the errand for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should be very thankful to you,\u201d said Thor.\n\nHastening out, they harnessed to the chariot\nThe-Goat-That-Gnashes-His-Teeth (Tanngnjost) and\nThe-Goat-That-Flashes-His-Teeth (Tanngrisner) and drove to Folkvang,\nwhere Freyja\u2019s immense palace (Sessrymner) stood. No mansion in the\nupper world had so many seats for guests as hers; and she was as\ngenerous as she was hospitable.\n\nWhen Thor had told her why they had come, she answered with the sweetest\nof smiles, \u201cI would give you the dress gladly though it were of gold.\nThough it were of silver, I would give it to you instantly.\u201d And she\nordered her attendants to bring it at once from the chest in which it\nwas stored.\n\nThough it was neither of gold nor of silver, yet it was very handsome.\nIt was made of the white and brown plumage of falcons and fitted Loki\u2019s\ngraceful body like a glove.\n\n\u201cI only hope no one will think me such a pretty bird that he will catch\nme and shut me in a cage,\u201d the Sly-One laughed, rustling his feathers as\nyou have seen canaries do after a bath.\n\nThen he spread his shining wings and flew out of the window, over the\nworld, on and on. By the time the goats had brought Thor back again to\nThrudvang, the magic pinions had carried Loki into the Land of the\nGiants (Jotunheim).\n\nIt would almost seem as if Thrym were expecting him, for he had placed\nhimself where he was very easy to find\u2014on a mound in front of the royal\ncavern. There he sat sunning himself and braiding gold collars for his\ngreyhounds, while half a score of his horses nosed and browsed around\nhim. He was very, very large and very, very old. His long beard and hair\nglittered like frost, and short glistening hairs grew all over his face\nand his hands. When Loki alighted before him he did not seem in the\nleast surprised, but looked up with a wicked grin.\n\n\u201cHow fare the mighty ones? How fare the elves? Why come you alone to\nJotunheim?\u201d he asked.\n\nLoki answered sternly, \u201cIll fare the mighty ones. Ill fare the elves.\nHave you concealed the hammer of Thor?\u201d\n\nThe giant\u2019s grin broadened until the mouth looked like a wide crack\nacross his face. It was evident that he thought he had played a very\nclever trick. He answered promptly, \u201cI have concealed the hammer of Thor\neight lengths beneath the ground. No man brings it back unless he gives\nme Freyja as my bride.\u201d\n\nFreyja the Lovely the bride of such a hoary old monster! Loki burst out\nlaughing. But the giant only turned his back upon him and began talking\nto his horses and running his huge fingers through their snowy manes.\nThey were all of them as large as hail-clouds. It suddenly occurred to\nLoki that if one of them should chance to step upon him, there would be\nvery little of him left.\n\nThere was nothing to do but carry the answer back to Thor. So again he\nspread the shining wings, leaped into the air, and flew back over the\nworld to Thrudvang.\n\n\n                                   II\n\nAlthough he was not long kept waiting, Thor had time to imagine all\nsorts of unpleasant things\u2014even to fancy that perhaps the Sly-One was\nplaying another of his tricks and would not return at all. The instant\nLoki in the feather-dress appeared upon the threshold, he called out\nsternly:\n\n\u201cHave you succeeded in doing your errand? Then give me the message\nbefore you sit down. What one tells after he has had time to sit down\nand think up fibs, is often of little value.\u201d\n\nAs Loki happened to be acting honestly for once, he felt somewhat\naggrieved at this.\n\n\u201cWell have I succeeded in doing my errand,\u201d he answered; \u201cThrym the King\nof Giants has your hammer. No man brings it back unless he gives him\nFreyja as bride.\u201d\n\nThor snorted so that his red beard streamed far out, and down on the\nearth people thought they had seen the fiery northern lights streak\nacross the sky.\n\n\u201cIs it to win her that he has made all this trouble? Ride we to Freyja\nwithout delay.\u201d\n\nThey mounted the chariot, and in an astonishingly short time the\nlightning-swift goats had drawn them to Folkvang.\n\nFreyja the Lovely sat in her high-seat playing with her wonderful\nnecklace, whose beads sparkled and flashed like water-drops in the sun.\nWhen she heard wheels, she guessed that the Strong-One was approaching\nand came out into the courtyard to meet him.\n\n\u201cI give you good greeting,\u201d she said, smiling kindly as Loki flew to her\nand dropped the feather-dress at her feet.\n\nBut she did not smile so sweetly when Thor had reined in the goats\nbefore her and told her of the giant\u2019s demand.\n\n\u201cDress yourself, Freyja, in bridal robes,\u201d he finished, \u201ctogether we\nwill ride to Jotunheim.\u201d\n\nThe Lovely One straightened up so quickly that her hand caught in her\nnecklace and broke it into a shower of sparkling balls.\n\n\u201cSooner will I die than put on bridal robes for such a monster,\u201d she\ndeclared.\n\nThe Strong-One looked at her in surprise. The hammer was so important to\nhim and to them all that he thought any one ought to be willing to do\nanything to recover it.\n\n\u201cIt is likely that you will die if I do not get The Crusher back,\u201d he\nsaid at last. \u201cIf the giants should invade the sky, I would have nothing\nto fight them with and they could get the victory over us.\u201d\n\nFreyja answered nothing whatever, but she put back her beautiful shining\nhair from her beautiful rosy face and looked at him sorrowfully. All at\nonce it occurred to Thor that she was much too lovely to be given to\nsuch a wicked old creature. He made only one more very faint attempt.\n\n\u201cI am told for certain that Thrym has got great riches,\u201d he said, \u201che\nhas a herd of all-black oxen and all his cows have gold horns.\u201d\n\nThen Freyja stamped her foot.\n\n\u201cI would be a love-sick maid indeed if with you I would ride to\nJotunheim!\u201d she said severely. And with that she left them and ran into\nthe house\u2014and I am not sure that she did not close the door pretty hard\nbehind her.\n\nThor scratched his head thoughtfully.\n\n\u201cMuch goes worse than is expected,\u201d he said at last. \u201cWe will see now\nwhat advice my kinsmen have to offer.\u201d\n\nAgain he puffed and snorted so that the trees on the earth below were\nstirred and swayed as by a rushing wind.\n\n\u201cCertainly there is going to be a great storm,\u201d the earth-people said to\neach other. And as they heard the chariot-wheels rumbling along above\nthe clouds, they added, \u201cHark! Do you hear the thunder?\u201d\n\nThey must have thought it a very long storm for before he stopped, Thor\nhad driven to almost every palace in the sky. Odin the All-wise Ruler,\nBalder the Bright, and Heimdal the White One, Tyr, Brage, Vale\u2014he\nvisited each of them. Soon they were all gathered together at their\nmeeting-place on the plains of Ida.\n\nThey consulted long and earnestly. At last Heimdal the White One, who\nhad the gift of fore-knowledge, gave them this counsel:\n\n\u201cIt is my advice that we play a trick upon the King of the Giants and\nallow him to believe that we have done as he asked. We will dress Thor\nin bridal robes and send him to Thrym.\u201d\n\nAt this, loud laughter went up from the others. You remember that Thor\nwas not only stronger than any man on earth, but he was also mightier\nthan any being in the sky. Imagine dressing him up for a beautiful\ngraceful woman!\n\n\u201cThat is cleverly devised!\u201d cried Loki. \u201cWith a bridal veil will we hide\nthe red beard, and Thrym shall not know him until the Strong-One has got\nhis hand on his hammer. Then will he know him to his sorrow!\u201d\n\nThey all laughed again; but the mighty Thor frowned angrily.\n\n\u201cNever will I submit to it,\u201d he growled. \u201cEvery living thing would mock\nat me, should I go dressed in bridal robes.\u201d\n\nPerhaps Loki wished to revenge himself on the Strong-One for having\nspoken so sternly to him when he first brought the message from\nJotunheim. Now in his turn he said sternly:\n\n\u201cBe silent, Thor. Stop such talk. Soon will the giants build in the sky\nif you do not bring your hammer back.\u201d\n\nBecause he knew this to be true, Thor could say nothing more. He stood\nfrowning and stamping and growling in his beard while they brought\nFreyja\u2019s jewels and her beautiful robes to dress him in.\n\nThey put on him a very long gown that trailed about his feet so that he\nwas certain that it would trip him up when he should try to walk. They\nhung sparkling necklaces around his neck, and placed a bunch of jingling\nkeys at his belt to show that he was a good house-keeper. Broad gold\nbrooches they pinned on his breast, and then they braided his red-gold\nhair into two beautiful wavy braids.\n\nHow the Mighty-One did stamp and fume at all this! And how the others\nlaughed at him! The more they laughed, the angrier he grew\u2014and the\nangrier he became, the funnier he looked in his bridal robes. The whole\nvault of the sky echoed and re-echoed with their mirth.\n\nAt last he was all dressed and they dropped the bridal veil over his\nfurious face.\n\nThen Loki said, with a slim grimace, that such a lovely bride could not\nbe allowed to travel without at least one serving-maid. So he took the\ndress of one of Freyja\u2019s attendants and put it on himself. As he was\nyoung and handsome and with no more beard than either you or I, he made\na very pretty waiting-damsel.\n\nHe got into the chariot beside Thor, the lightning-swift goats were\nhitched to the car, and away they went to Jotunheim.\n\n\n                                  III\n\nThe chariot-wheels rumbled like thunder. The-Goat-That-Gnashes-His-Teeth\nand The-Goat-That-Flashes-His-Teeth struck out fiery sparks from their\ngold-shod hoofs. So came Loki and the Strong-One into Jotunheim.\n\nWhile they were yet a long way off, Thrym heard them coming and laughed\nexultantly.\n\n                   \u201cMuch wealth have I!\n                   Many gifts have I!\n                   Freyja, methinks, is all I lack!\u201d\n\nhe sang; then he called out to his followers, \u201cGiants, arise and spread\nthe embroidered cloths over the benches. Freyja comes to be my bride.\u201d\n\nThe servants tumbled over each other in wild excitement. Some covered\nthe seats and the walls with embroidered tapestries. Some strewed fresh\nstraw upon the floor. Others scoured the shields and brought in the\ntables and set forth the massive golden dishes.\n\nJust as twilight was falling, the chariot thundered into the courtyard.\n\nWhen he saw Freyja\u2019s robes and Freyja\u2019s jewels, it never occurred to\nThrym to doubt that it was really Freyja under the veil. He took the\nbride\u2019s hand and led her to her seat, laughing exultantly and singing\nhis boastful song:\n\n                  \u201cMuch wealth have I!\n                  Many gifts have I!\n                  Freyja, methinks, was all I lacked!\u201d\n\nThen he ordered the food to be brought in, and invited every one to help\nhim keep his wedding-feast.\n\nWhen they began to eat, it was a wonder that Thor\u2019s appetite did not\nbetray him the very first thing. Either he was so hungry that he did not\ncare what they thought, or else he forgot that he was pretending to be a\ndainty lady. Besides all the cheese and the curds and the honey, he ate\nseven whole salmon and one whole ox, and after that he drank three\nbarrels of the sweet spicy mead. Loki pinched him under the table as a\nsign for him to stop, but he only growled in his beard and ate one\nsalmon more.\n\nThrym\u2019s eyes grew as big as milk-bowls.\n\n\u201cSaw I never such a hungry bride!\u201d he exclaimed, pushing back to stare\nat her. \u201cSaw I never a bride eat so much! Saw I never a maid drink so\nmuch mead!\u201d\n\nAt that, even Thor was a little alarmed, for if the giant king should\ndiscover them before they got the hammer, not only would their plan fail\nbut they would lose their lives into the bargain. He could think of\nnothing to answer, however, so he sat silent. Lucky was it for him that\nLoki always had his wits about him.\n\nThe Sly-One answered quickly, \u201cHungry is Freyja, thirsty is Freyja, for\nnothing has she eaten or drunk for eight days\u2014so much did she long to\ncome to Jotunheim.\u201d\n\nThrym\u2019s look of surprise changed to one of complacency.\n\n\u201cIs it so indeed!\u201d he exclaimed, and finished his supper very\npleasantly.\n\nBut by and by he became so pleased with his bride that he wanted to kiss\nher. Before Thor could hinder it, he reached out his great hairy hand\nand pulled at the veil. It slipped aside just enough to disclose Thor\u2019s\nfurious, fiery eyes.\n\nThe giant king sprang back the whole length of the hall.\n\n\u201cWhy are Freyja\u2019s eyes so sharp?\u201d he cried. \u201cIt seems that fire burns in\nher eyes.\u201d\n\nBy this time, the Strong-One was so angry that I think he hardly cared\nwhat happened. Lucky was it for all the folk of the sky that Loki was\nthere to answer for him.\n\nThe Sly-One spoke up quickly, \u201cSharp are Freyja\u2019s eyes, fiery are\nFreyja\u2019s eyes. She has not slept for eight nights, so much did she long\nto come to Jotunheim.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it true indeed!\u201d said Thrym, much flattered that his bride had been\nso eager to come to him. And he came back and sat down beside her and\nlooked at her affectionately.\n\nFinally the time came for the giving of the bridal gifts. An old sister\nof Thrym came and bowed low before the bride.\n\n\u201cGive from your hand the golden rings if you desire friendship of me,\u201d\nshe demanded, \u201cif you desire friendship of me\u2014and love.\u201d\n\nBecause he was determined that he would never give her anything but a\nblow, Thor answered nothing whatever. Thrym feared that his bride was\noffended by the questions he had asked, so he hastened to do something\nto appease her.\n\nHe called to his servants, \u201cBring me the hammer to please my bride.\nPlace the hammer on the lap of the maid. Wed us together in the name of\nVar.\u201d\n\nThor\u2019s heart laughed within him when he saw his beloved hammer drawn out\nof its hiding-place and borne toward him. But he sat as stiff as a\nstick. Until his hand grasped it, there was still danger. Nearer they\ncame with it. Nearer\u2014and all unsuspecting, they laid it upon his knee.\n\nThen at last Thrym learned how the cleverness of the sky-people\nsurpassed his cleverness. Thor\u2019s mighty hand closed upon the handle; he\nthrew back the veil; he leaped to his feet. His terrible eyes blazed\nupon them as his arm flew back to strike.\n\nOnce! and Thrym fell dead at his feet. Twice! and the old giantess lay\nbeside her brother. Again and again and again\u2014until the whole race of\ngiants were felled like a forest of towering trees.\n\nThus came Odin\u2019s son again by his hammer.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in\n      spelling.\n 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.\n 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"A Viking's love: and other tales of the North","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":16122}