Legends of the Middle Ages Part 27

Aided and abetted by his bosom friend, Halfdan, Viking escaped every danger, slew many of his foes, and, after recovering his promised bride, Hunvor, whom the enemy had carried off to India, he settled down in Sweden.

His friend, faithful in peace as well as in war, settled near him, and married also, choosing for his wife Ingeborg, Hunvor's attendant.

The saga now describes the long, peaceful winters, when the warriors feasted and listened to the tales of the scalds, rousing themselves to energetic efforts only when returning spring again permitted them to launch their dragon s.h.i.+ps and set out once more upon their favorite piratical expeditions. In the olden story the bards relate with great gusto every phase of attack and defense during cruise and raid, describe every blow given and received, and spare us none of carnage, or lurid flames which envelop both enemies and s.h.i.+ps in common ruin. A fierce fight is often an earnest of future friends.h.i.+p, however, for we are told that Halfdan and Viking, having failed to conquer Njorfe, even after a most obstinate struggle, sheathed their swords and accepted him as a third in their close bond of friends.h.i.+p.

On returning home after one of these customary raids, Viking lost his beloved wife; and, after intrusting her child, Ring, to the care of a foster father, and undergoing a short period of mourning, the brave warrior married again. This time his marital bliss was more lasting, for the saga reports that his second wife bore him nine stalwart sons.

Njorfe, King of Uplands, in Norway, had, in the mean while, followed Viking's example, and he too rejoiced in a large family, numbering also nine brave sons. Now, although their fathers were united in bonds of the closest friends.h.i.+p, having sworn blood brotherhood according to the true northern rites, the young men were jealous of one another, and greatly inclined to quarrel.

[Sidenote: Early ball games.] Notwithstanding this smoldering animosity, these youths often met; and the saga relates that they used to play ball together, and gives a description of the earliest ball game on record in the northern annals. Viking's sons, as tall and strong as he, were inclined to be rather reckless of their opponents' welfare, and, judging from the following account, translated from the old saga, the players were often left in as sorry a condition as after a modern game.

"The next morning the brothers went to the games, and generally had the ball during the day; they pushed men and let them fall roughly, and beat others. At night three men had their arms broken, and many were bruised or maimed."

The game between Njorfe's and Viking's sons culminated in a disagreement, and one of the former nine struck one of the latter a dangerous and treacherous blow. Prevented from taking his revenge then and there by the interference of the spectators, the injured man made a trivial excuse to return to the ball ground alone; and, meeting his a.s.sailant there, he killed him.

When Viking heard that one of his sons had slain one of his friend's children, he was very indignant, and, mindful of his oath to avenge all Njorfe's wrongs, he banished the young murderer. The other brothers, on hearing this sentence, all vowed that they would accompany the exile, and so Viking sorrowfully bade them farewell, giving his sword Angurvadel to Thorsten, the eldest, and cautioning him to remain quietly on an island in Lake Wener until all danger of retaliation on the part of Njorfe's remaining sons was over.

The young men obeyed; but Njorfe's sons, who had no boats to take them across the lake, soon made use of a conjuror's art to bring about a great frost, and, accompanied by many armed men, stole noiselessly over the ice to attack Thorsten and his brothers. A terrible carnage ensued, and only two of the attacking party managed to escape, leaving, as they fancied, all their foes among the dead.

But when Viking came to bury his sons, he found that two of them, Thorsten and Th.o.r.er, were still alive, and he secretly conveyed them to a cellar beneath his dwelling, where they recovered from their wounds.

By magic arts Njorfe's two sons discovered that their opponents were not dead, and soon made a second desperate but vain attempt to kill them.

Viking saw that the quarrel would be incessantly renewed if his sons remained at home; so he now sent them to Halfdan, whose court they reached after a series of adventures which in many points resemble those of Theseus on his way to Athens.

When spring came Thorsten embarked on a piratical excursion, and encountered Jokul, Njorfe's eldest son, who, in the mean while, had taken forcible possession of the kingdom of Sogn, after killing the king, banis.h.i.+ng his heir, Bele, and changing his beautiful daughter, Ingeborg, into the form of an old witch.

Throughout the story Jokul is represented as somewhat of a coward, for he resorted by preference to magic when he wished to injure Viking's sons.

Thus he stirred up great tempests, and Thorsten, after twice suffering s.h.i.+pwreck, was saved from the waves by the witch Ingeborg, whom he promised to marry in grat.i.tude for her good services.

Thorsten, advised by her, went in search of Bele, replaced him on his hereditary throne, swore eternal friends.h.i.+p with him, and, the baleful spell being removed, married the beautiful Ingeborg, who dwelt with him at Framnas.

[Sidenote: Thorsten and Bele.] Every spring Thorsten and Bele now set out together in their s.h.i.+ps; and, joining forces with Angantyr, a foe whose mettle they had duly tested, they proceeded to recover possession of a priceless treasure, a magic dragon s.h.i.+p named Ellida, which Aegir, G.o.d of the sea, had once given to Viking in reward for hospitable treatment, and which had been stolen from him.

"A royal gift to behold, for the swelling planks of its framework Were not fastened with nails, as is wont, but _grown_ in together.

Its shape was that of a dragon when swimming, but forward Its head rose proudly on high, the throat with yellow gold flaming; Its belly was spotted with red and yellow, but back by the rudder Coiled out its mighty tail in circles, all scaly with silver; Black wings with edges of red; when all were expanded Ellida raced with the whistling storm, but outstript the eagle.

When filled to the edge with warriors, it sailed o'er the waters, You'd deem it a floating fortress, or warlike abode of a monarch.

The s.h.i.+p was famed far and wide, and of s.h.i.+ps was first in the North."

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).

The next season, Thorsten, Bele, and Angantyr conquered the Orkney Islands, which were given as kingdom to the latter, he voluntarily pledging himself to pay a yearly tribute to Bele. Next Thorsten and Bele went in quest of a magic ring, or armlet, once forged by Volund, the smith, and stolen by Sote, a famous pirate.

This bold robber was so afraid lest some one should gain possession of the magic ring, that he had buried himself alive with it in a mound in Bretland. Here his ghost was said to keep constant watch over it, and when Thorsten entered his tomb, Bele heard the frightful blows given and received, and saw lurid gleams of supernatural fire.

When Thorsten finally staggered out of the mound, pale and b.l.o.o.d.y, but triumphant, he refused to speak of the horrors he had encountered to win the coveted treasure, nor would he ever vouchsafe further information than this:

"'Dearly bought is the prize,' said he often, 'For I trembled but once in my life, and 'twas when I seized it!'"

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).

[Sidenote: Birth of Frithiof and Ingeborg.] Thus owner of the three greatest treasures in the North, Thorsten returned home to Framnas, where Ingeborg bore him a fine boy, Frithiof, the playmate of Halfdan and Helge, Bele's sons. The three youths were already well grown when Ingeborg, Bele's little daughter, was born, and as she was intrusted to the care of Hilding, Frithiof's foster father, the children grew up in perfect amity.

"Jocund they grew, in guileless glee; Young Frithiof was the sapling tree; In budding beauty by his side, Sweet Ingeborg, the garden's pride."

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).

Frithiof soon became hardy and fearless under his foster father's training, and Ingeborg rapidly developed all the sweetest traits of female loveliness. Both, however, were happiest when together; and as they grew older their childish affection daily became deeper and more intense, until Hilding, perceiving this state of affairs, bade the youth remember that he was only a subject, and therefore no mate for the king's only daughter.

"But Hilding said, 'O foster son, Set not thy heart her love upon, For Destiny thy wish gainsaid; King Bele's daughter is the maid!

"'From Odin's self, in starry sky, Descends her ancestry so high; But thou art Thorsten's son, so yield, And leave to mightier names the field.'"

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.)

[Sidenote: Frithiof's love for Ingeborg.] These wise admonitions came too late, however, and Frithiof vehemently declared that he would win the fair Ingeborg for his bride in spite of all obstacles and his comparatively humble origin.

Shortly after this Bele and Thorsten met for the last time, near the magnificent shrine of Balder, where the king, feeling that his end was near, had convened a solemn a.s.sembly, or Thing, of all his princ.i.p.al subjects, in order to present his sons Helge and Halfdan to the people as his chosen successors. The young heirs were very coldly received on this occasion, for Helge was of a somber and taciturn disposition, and inclined to the life of a priest, and Halfdan was of a weak, effeminate nature, and noted for his cowardice. Frithiof, who was present, and stood beside them, cast them both in the shade, and won many admiring glances from the throng.

"But after them came Frithiof, in mantle blue-- He by a head was taller than th' other two.

He stood between the brethren, as day should light Between the rosy morning and darksome night."

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.)

After giving his last instructions to his sons, and speaking kindly to Frithiof, who was his favorite, the old king turned to his lifelong companion, Thorsten, to take leave of him, but the old warrior declared that they would not long be parted. Bele then spoke again to his sons, and bade them erect his howe, or funeral mound, within sight of that of Thorsten, that their spirits might commune, and not be sundered even in death.

"'But lay us gently, children, where the blue wave, Beating harmonious cadence, the sh.o.r.e doth lave; Its murmuring song is pleasant unto the soul, And like a lamentation its ceaseless roll.

"'And when the moon's pale l.u.s.ter around us streams, And midnight dim grows radiant with silver beams, There will we sit, O Thorsten, upon our graves, And talk of bygone battles by the dark waves.

"'And now, farewell, my children! Come here no more; Our road lies to Allfather's far-distant sh.o.r.e, E'en as the troubled river sweeps to the sea: By Frey and Thor and Odin blessed may ye be.'"

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).

[Sidenote: Helge and Halfdan.] These instructions were all piously obeyed when the aged companions had breathed their last. Then the brothers, Helge and Halfdan, began to rule their kingdom, while Frithiof, their former playmate, withdrew to his own place at Framnas, a very fertile homestead, lying in a snug valley closed in by the towering mountains and the ever-changing ocean.

"Three miles extended around the fields of the homestead; on three sides Valleys and mountains and hills, but on the fourth side was the ocean.

Birch-woods crowned the summits, but over the down-sloping hillsides Flourished the golden corn, and man-high was waving the rye- field."

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).

But although surrounded by faithful retainers, and blessed with much wealth and the possession of the famous sword Angurvadel, the Volund ring, and the matchless dragon s.h.i.+p Ellida, Frithiof was unhappy, because he could no longer see the fair Ingeborg daily. With the returning spring, however, all his former spirits returned, for both kings came to visit him, accompanied by their fair sister, with whom he lived over the happy childish years, and spent long hours in cheerful companions.h.i.+p. As they were thus constantly thrown together, Frithiof soon made known to Ingeborg his deep affection, and received in return an avowal of her love.

"He sat by her side, and he pressed her soft hand, And he felt a soft pressure responsive and bland; Whilst his love-beaming gaze Was returned as the sun's in the moon's placid rays."

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).

[Sidenote: Frithiof's suit.] When the visit was over and the guests had departed, Frithiof informed his confidant and chief companion, Bjorn, of his determination to follow them and openly ask for Ingeborg's hand. His s.h.i.+p was prepared, and after a swift sail touched the sh.o.r.e near Balder's shrine. Discerning the royal brothers seated in state on Bele's tomb to listen to the pet.i.tions of their subjects, Frithiof immediately presented himself before them, and manfully made his request, adding that the old king had always loved him and would surely have granted his prayer.

"They were seated on Bele's tomb, and o'er The common folk administered law.

But Frithiof speaks, And his voice re-echoes round valleys and peaks.

"'Ye kings, my love is Ingborg fair; To ask her in marriage I here repair; And what I require I here maintain was King Bele's desire.

"'He let us grow in Hilding's care, Like two young saplings, year by year; And therefore, kings, Unite the full-grown trees with golden rings.'"

TEGNeR, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).

But although he promised lifelong fealty and the service of his strong right arm in exchange for the boon he craved, Helge contemptuously dismissed him. Enraged at the insult thus publicly received, Frithiof raised his invincible sword; but, remembering that he stood on a consecrated spot, he spared the king, only cutting the royal s.h.i.+eld in two to show the strength of his blade, and striding back to his s.h.i.+p, he embarked and sailed away in sullen silence.