Tales of Norse Mythology
Page 29
Flourished the golden corn, and man-high was waving the rye-field.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, Longfellow’s translation
But although surrounded by faithful retainers, and blessed with much wealth and the possession of the famous treasures of his hero sire, the sword Angurvadel, the Völund ring, and the matchless dragon ship Ellida, Frithiof was unhappy, because he could no longer see the fair Ingeborg daily. All his former spirits revived, however, when in the spring, at his invitation, both kings came to visit him, together with their fair sister, and once again they spent long hours in cheerful companionship. As they were thus constantly thrown together, Frithiof found opportunity to make known to Ingeborg his deep affection, and he 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.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, Longfellow’s translation
Frithiof’s Suit
When the visit was ended and the guests had departed, Frithiof informed his confidant and chief companion, Björn, of his determination to follow them and openly ask for Ingeborg’s hand. His ship was set free from its moorings and it swooped like an eagle over to the shore near Balder’s shrine, where the royal brothers were seated in state on Belé’s tomb to listen to the petitions of their subjects. Straightway Frithiof 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.
No king was my sire, not a jarl, ev’n—’tis true;
Yet Scald-songs his mem’ry and exploits renew;
The Rune-stones will tell
On high-vaulted cairn what my race hath done well.
With ease could I win me both empire and land;
But rather I stay on my forefathers’ strand;
While arms I can wield—
Both poverty’s hut and king’s palace I’ll shield.
On Belé’s round barrow we stand; each word
In the dark deeps beneath us he hears and has heard;
With Frithiof pleadeth
The old Chief in his cairn: think! Your answer thought needeth.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
Then he went on to promise lifelong fealty and the service of his strong right arm in exchange for the boon he craved.
As Frithiof ceased King Helgé rose, and regarding the young man scornfully, he said: “Our sister is not for a peasant’s son; proud chiefs of the Northland may dispute for her hand, but not thou. As for thy arrogant proffer, know that I can protect my kingdom. Yet if thou wouldst be my man, place in my household mayst thou have.”
Enraged at the insult thus publicly offered, Frithiof drew his invincible sword; but, remembering that he stood on a consecrated spot, he struck only at the royal shield, which fell in two pieces clashing to the ground. Then striding back to his ship in sullen silence, he embarked and sailed away.
And lo! Cloven in twain at a stroke
Fell King Helge’s gold shield from its pillar of oak:
At the clang of the blow,
The live started above, the dead started below.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, Longfellow’s translation
Sigurd Ring a Suitor
After his departure came messengers from Sigurd Ring, the aged King of Ringric, in Norway, who, having lost his wife, sent to Helgé and Halfdan to ask Ingeborg’s hand in marriage. Before returning answer to this royal suitor, Helgé consulted the Vala, or prophetess, and the priests, who all declared that the omens were not in favor of the marriage. Upon this Helgé assembled his people to hear the word which the messengers were to carry to their master, but unfortunately King Halfdan gave way to his waggish humor, and made scoffing reference to the advanced age of the royal suitor. These impolitic words were reported to King Ring, and so offended him that he immediately collected an army and prepared to march against the Kings of Sogn to avenge the insult with his sword. When the rumor of his approach reached the cowardly brothers they were terrified, and fearing to encounter the foe unaided, they sent Hilding to Frithiof to implore his help.
FRITHIOF CLEAVES THE SHIELD OF HELGÉ
H. Hendrich
Hilding found Frithiof playing chess with Björn, and immediately made known his errand.
From Bele’s high heirs
I come with courteous words and prayers
Disastrous tidings rouse the brave;
On thee a nation’s hope relies.
………….
In Balder’s fane, grief’s loveliest prey,
Sweet Ing’borg weeps the livelong day:
Say, can her tears unheeded fall,
Nor call her champion to her side?
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, Longfellow’s translation
While the old man was speaking Frithiof continued to play, ever and anon interjecting an enigmatical reference to the game, until at this point he said:
Björn; thou in vain my queen pursuest,
She from childhood dearest, truest!
She’s my game’s most darling piece, and
Come what will—I’ll save my queen!
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
Hilding did not understand such mode of answering, and at length rebuked Frithiof for his indifference. Then Frithiof rose, and pressing kindly the old man’s hand, he bade him tell the kings that he was too deeply offended to listen to their appeal.
Helgé and Halfdan, thus forced to fight without their bravest leader, preferred to make a treaty with Sigurd Ring, and they agreed to give him not only their sister Ingeborg, but also a yearly tribute.
At Balder’s Shrine
While they were thus engaged at Sogn Sound, Frithiof hastened to Balder’s temple, to which Ingeborg had been sent for security, and where, as Hilding had declared, he found her a prey to grief. Now although it was considered a sacrilege for man and woman to exchange a word in the sacred building, Frithiof could not forbear to console her; and, forgetting all else, he spoke to her and comforted her, quieting all her apprehensions of the gods’ anger by assuring her that Balder, the good, must view their innocent passion with approving eyes, for love so pure as theirs could defile no sanctuary; and they ended by plighting their troth before the shrine of Balder.
Thou whisp’rest “Balder”—His wrath fearest;
That gentle god all anger flies.
We worship here a Lover, dearest!
Our hearts’ love is his sacrifice;
That god whose brow beams sunshine-splendor,
Whose faith lasts through eternity,
Was not his love to beauteous Nanna
As pure, as warm, as mine to thee?
His image see! Himself broods o’er it—
How mild, how kind, his bright eyes move!
An off’ring bear I here before it,
A warm heart full of purest love.
Come, kneel with me! No altar incense
To Balder’s soul more grateful is
Than two hearts, vowing in his presence
A mutual faith as true as his!
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
Reassured by this reasoning, which received added strength from the voice which spoke loudly from her own heart, Ingeborg could not refuse to see and converse with Frithiof. During the kings’ absence the young lovers met everyday, and they exchanged love-tokens, Frithiof giving to Ingeborg Völund’s arm-ring, which she solemnly promised to send back to her lover should she be compelled to break her promise to live for him alone. Frithiof lingered at Framnäs until the kings’ return, when, yielding to the fond entreaties of Ingeborg the Fair, he again appeared before them, and pledged himself to free them from their thraldom to Sigurd Ring if they would only reconsider their decision and promise him their sister’s hand
.
War stands and strikes
His glitt’ring shield within thy boundaries;
Thy realm, King Helge, is in jeopardy:
But give thy sister, and I’ll lend mine arm
Thy guard in battle. It may stead thee well.
Come! Let this grudge between us be forgotten,
Unwilling bear I such ’gainst Ing’borg’s brother.
Be counsell’d, King! Be just! And save at once
Thy golden crown and thy fair sister’s heart!
Here is my hand: by Asa-Thor I swear
Never again ’tis stretch’d in reconcilement!
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
Frithiof Banished
But although this offer was received with acclamation by the assembled warriors, Helgé scornfully demanded of Frithiof whether he had spoken with Ingeborg and so defiled the temple of Balder.
A shout of “Say nay, Frithiof! Say nay!” broke from the ring of warriors, but he proudly answered: “I would not lie to gain Valhalla. I have spoken to thy sister, Helgé, yet have I not broken Balder’s peace.”
A murmur of horror passed through the ranks at this avowal, and when the harsh voice of Helgé was raised in judgment, none was there to gainsay the justice of the sentence.
This apparently was not a harsh one, but Helgé well knew that it meant death, and he so intended it.
Far westward lay the Orkney Islands, ruled by Jarl Angantyr, whose yearly tribute to Belé was withheld now that the old king lay in his cairn. Hard-fisted he was said to be, and heavy of hand, and to Frithiof was given the task of demanding the tribute face to face.
INGEBORG WATCHES HER LOVER DEPART
Knut Ekwall
Before he sailed upon the judgment-quest, however, he once more sought Ingeborg, and implored her to elope with him to a home in the sunny South, where her happiness should be his law, and where she should rule over his subjects as his honored wife. But Ingeborg sorrowfully refused to accompany him, saying that, since her father was no more, she was in duty bound to obey her brothers implicitly, and could not marry without their consent.
The fiery spirit of Frithiof was at first impatient under this disappointment of his hopes, but in the end his noble nature conquered, and after a heartrending parting scene, he embarked upon Ellida, and sorrowfully sailed out of the harbor, while Ingeborg, through a mist of tears, watched the sail as it faded and disappeared in the distance.
The vessel was barely out of sight when Helgé sent for two witches named Heid and Ham, bidding them by incantations to stir up a tempest at sea in which it would be impossible for even the god-given vessel Ellida to live, that so all on board should perish. The witches immediately complied; and with Helgé’s aid they soon stirred up a storm the fury of which is unparalleled in history.
Helgé on the strand
Chants his wizard-spell,
Potent to command
Fiends of earth or hell.
Gathering darkness shrouds the sky;
Hark, the thunder’s distant roll!
Lurid lightnings, as they fly,
Streak with blood the sable pole.
Ocean, boiling to its base,
Scatters wide its wave of foam;
Screaming, as in fleetest chase,
Sea-birds seek their island home.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, Longfellow’s translation
Then the storm unfetter’d wingeth
Wild his course; in Ocean’s foam
Now he dips him, now up-swingeth,
Whirling toward the God’s own home:
Rides each Horror-spirit, warning,
High upon the topmost wave—
Up from out the white, vast, yawning,
Bottomless, unfathom’d grave.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
The Tempest
Unfrighted by tossing waves and whistling blasts, Frithiof sang a cheery song to reassure his terrified crew; but when the peril grew so great that his exhausted followers gave themselves up for lost, he bethought him of tribute to the goddess Ran, who ever requires gold of them who would rest in peace under the ocean wave. Taking his armlet, he hewed it with his sword and made fair division among his men.
Who goes empty-handed
Down to sea-blue Ran?
Cold her kisses strike, and
Fleeting her embrace is.
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
He then bade Björn hold the rudder, and himself climbed to the mast-top to view the horizon. While perched there he descried a whale, upon which the two witches were riding the storm. Speaking to his good ship, which was gifted with power of understanding and could obey his commands, he now ran down both whale and witches, and the sea was reddened with their blood. At the same instant the wind fell, the waves ceased to threaten, and fair weather soon smiled again upon the seas.
Exhausted by their previous superhuman efforts and by the labor of baling their water-logged vessel, the men were too weak to land when they at last reached the Orkney Islands, and had to be carried ashore by Björn and Frithiof, who gently laid them down on the sand, bidding them rest and refresh themselves after all the hardships they had endured.
Yet more wearied than their Dragon
Totter Frithiof’s gallant men;
Though each leans upon his weapon,
Scarcely upright stand they then.
Björn, on pow’rful shoulder, dareth
Four to carry to the land;
Frithiof, all alone, eight beareth,
Sets them so round the upblaz’d brand.
“Nay! Ye white-fac’d, shame not!
Waves are mighty Vikings;
Hard’s the unequal struggle—
Ocean’s maids our foes.
See! There comes the mead-horn,
Wand’ring on bright gold-foot;
Shipmates! Cold limbs warm, and
Here’s to Ingeborg!”
—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
The arrival of Frithiof and his men, and their mode of landing, had been noted by the watchman of Angantyr, who immediately informed his master of all he had seen. The jarl exclaimed that the ship which had weathered such a gale could be none but Ellida, and that its captain was doubtless Frithiof, Thorsten’s gallant son. At these words one of his Berserkers, Atlé, caught up his weapons and strode from the hall, vowing that he would challenge Frithiof, and thus satisfy himself concerning the veracity of the tales he had heard of the young hero’s courage.
Atlé’s Challenge
Although still greatly exhausted, Frithiof immediately accepted Atlé’s challenge, and, after a sharp encounter with swords, in which Angurvadel was triumphant, the two champions grappled in deadly embrace. Widely is that wrestling-match renowned in the North, and well matched were the heroes, but in the end Frithiof threw his antagonist, whom he would have slain then and there had his sword been within reach. Atlé saw his intention, and bade him go in search of the weapon, promising to remain motionless during his absence. Frithiof, knowing that such a warrior’s promise was inviolable, immediately obeyed; but when he returned with his sword, and found his antagonist calmly awaiting death, he relented, and bade Atlé rise and live.
Then storm they, nothing yielded,
Two autumn-billows like!
And oft, with steel round shielded,
Their jarring breasts fierce strike.
All like two bears they wrestle,
On hills of snow; and draw
And strain, each like an eagle
On the angry sea at war.
The root-fast rock resisted
Full hardly them between
And green iron oaks down-twisted
With lesser pulls have been.
From each broad brow sweat rushes;
Their bosoms coldly heave;
And stones and mounds and bushes
Dints hundred-fold receive.
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—Tegnér, Frithiof Saga, G. Stephens’ translation
Together the appeased warriors now wended their way to Angantyr’s hall, which Frithiof found to be far different from the rude dwellings of his native land. The walls were covered with leather richly decorated with gilt designs. The chimney-piece was of marble, and glass panes were in the window-frames. A soft light was diffused from many candles burning in silver branches, and the tables groaned under the most luxurious fare.
High in a silver chair sat the jarl, clad in a coat of golden mail, over which was flung a rich mantle bordered with ermine, but when Frithiof entered he strode from his seat with cordial hand outstretched. “Full many a horn have I emptied with my old friend Thorsten,” said he, “and his brave son is equally welcome at my board.”
Nothing loth, Frithiof seated himself beside his host, and after he had eaten and drunk he recounted his adventures upon land and sea.
At last, however, Frithiof made known his errand, whereupon Angantyr said that he owed no tribute to Helgé, and would pay him none; but that he would give the required sum as a free gift to his old friend’s son, leaving him at liberty to dispose of it as he pleased. Meantime, since the season was unpropitious for the return journey, and storms continually swept the sea, the king invited Frithiof to tarry with him over the winter; and it was only when the gentle spring breezes were blowing once more that he at last allowed him to depart.
Frithiof’s Home-coming
Taking leave of his kind host, Frithiof set sail, and wafted by favorable winds, the hero, after six days, came in sight of Framnäs, and found that his home had been reduced to a shapeless heap of ashes by Helgé’s orders. Sadly Frithiof strode over the ravaged site of his childhood’s home, and as he viewed the desolate scene his heart burned within him. The ruins were not entirely deserted, however, and suddenly Frithiof felt the cold nozzle of his hound thrust into his hand. A few moments later his favorite steed bounded to his master’s side, and the faithful creatures were well-nigh frantic with delight. Then came Hilding to greet him with the information that Ingeborg was now the wife of Sigurd Ring. When Frithiof heard this he flew into a Berserker rage, and bade his men scuttle the vessels in the harbor, while he strode to the temple in search of Helgé.