Legends of the Middle Ages Part 29

Thou clear blue sky, Like hero's soul, Ye stars on high, Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell, ye mounts Where Honour thrives, And Thor recounts Good warriors' lives.

Ye azure lakes, I know so well, Ye woods and brakes, Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell, ye tombs, By billows blue, The lime tree blooms Its snow on you.

The Saga sets In judgment-veil What earth forgets; Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell the heath, The forest h.o.a.r I played beneath, By streamlet's roar.

To childhood's friends Who loved me well, Remembrance sends A fond farewell!

"'My love is foiled, My rooftree rent, Mine honour soiled, In exile sent!

We turn from earth, On ocean dwell, But, joy and mirth, Farewell, farewell!'"

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

After thus parting from his native land, Frithiof took up the life of a pirate, rover, or viking, whose code was never to settle anywhere, to sleep on his s.h.i.+eld, to fight and neither give nor take quarter, to protect the s.h.i.+ps which paid him tribute and sack the others, and to distribute all the booty to his men, reserving for himself nothing but the glory of the enterprise. Sailing and fighting thus, Frithiof visited many lands, and came to the sunny isles of Greece, whither he would fain have carried Ingeborg as his bride; but wherever he went and whatever he did, he was always haunted by the recollection of his beloved and of his native land.

[Sidenote: At the court of Sigurd Ring.] Overcome at last by homesickness, Frithiof returned northward, determined to visit Sigurd Ring's court and ascertain whether Ingeborg was really well and happy. Steering his vessel up the Vik (the main part of the Christiania-Fiord), he intrusted it to Bjorn's care, and alone, on foot, and enveloped in a tattered mantle, which he used as disguise, he went to the court of Sigurd Ring, arriving there just as the Yuletide festivities were being held. As if in reality nothing more than the aged beggar he appeared, Frithiof sat down upon the bench near the door, where he became the b.u.t.t of the courtiers' rough jokes; but when one of his tormentors approached too closely he caught him in his powerful grasp and swung him high above his head.

Terrified by this proof of great strength, the courtiers silently withdrew, while Sigurd Ring invited the old man to remove his mantle, take a seat beside him, and share his good cheer. Frithiof accepted the invitation thus cordially given, and when he had laid aside his squalid outward apparel all started with surprise to see a handsome warrior, richly clad, and adorned with a beautiful ring.

"Now from the old man's stooping head is loosed the sable hood, When lo! a young man smiling stands, where erst the old one stood.

See! From his lofty forehead, round shoulders broad and strong, The golden locks flow glistening, like sunlight waves along.

"He stood before them glorious in velvet mantle blue, His baldrics broad, with silver worked, the artist's skill did shew; For round about the hero's breast and round about his waist, The beasts and birds of forest wild, embossed, each other chased.

"The armlet's yellow l.u.s.ter shone rich upon his arm; His war sword by his side--in strife a thunderbolt alarm.

Serene the hero cast his glance around the men of war; Bright stood he there as Balder, as tall as Asa Thor."

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING.--Kepler.]

But although his appearance was so unusual, none of the people present recognized him save Ingeborg only; and when the king asked him who he was he evasively replied that he was Thiolf (a thief), that he came from Ulf's (the wolf's), and had been brought up in Anger (sorrow or grief).

Notwithstanding this unenticing account of himself, Sigurd Ring invited him to remain; and Frithiof, accepting the proffered hospitality, became the constant companion of the king and queen, whom he accompanied wherever they went.

One day, when the royal couple were seated in a sleigh and skimming along a frozen stream, Frithiof sped on his skates before them, performing graceful evolutions, and cutting Ingeborg's name deep in the ice. All at once the ice broke and the sleigh disappeared; but Frithiof, springing forward, caught the horse by the bridle, and by main force dragged them all out of their perilous position.

When spring came, Sigurd Ring invited Frithiof to accompany him on a hunting expedition. The king became separated from all the rest of his suite, and saying that he was too weary to continue the chase, he lay down to rest upon the cloak which Frithiof spread out for him, resting his head upon his young guest's knee.

"Then threw Frithiof down his mantle, and upon the greensward spread, And the ancient king so trustful laid on Frithiof's knee his head; Slept, as calmly as the hero sleepeth after war's alarms On his s.h.i.+eld, calm as an infant sleepeth in its mother's arms."

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

[Sidenote: Frithiof's loyalty.]While the aged king was thus reposing, the birds and beasts of the forest softly drew near, bidding Frithiof take advantage of his host's unconsciousness to slay him and recover the bride of whom he had been unfairly deprived. But although Frithiof understood the language of birds and beasts, and his hot young heart clamored for his beloved, he utterly refused to listen to them; and, fearing lest he should involuntarily harm his trusting host, he impulsively flung his sword far from him into a neighboring thicket.

A few moments later Sigurd Ring awoke from his feigned sleep, and after telling Frithiof that he had recognized him from the first, had tested him in many ways, and had always found his honor fully equal to his vaunted courage, he bade him be patient a little longer, for his end was very near, and said that he would die happy if he could leave Ingeborg, his infant heir, and his kingdom in such good hands. Then, taking the astonished Frithiof's arm, Sigurd Ring returned home, where, feeling death draw near, he dedicated himself anew to Odin by carving the Geirs-odd, or sacrificial runes, deeply in his aged chest.

"Bravely he slashes Odin's red letters, Blood-runes of heroes, on arm and on breast.

Brightly the splashes Of life's flowing fetters Drip from the silver of hair-covered chest."

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

When this ceremony was finished, Sigurd Ring laid Ingeborg's hand in Frithiof's, and, once more commending her to the young hero's loving care, closed his eyes and breathed his last.

[Sidenote: Betrothal of Frithiof and Ingeborg.] All the nation a.s.sembled to raise a mound for Sigurd Ring; and by his own request the funeral feast was closed by a banquet to celebrate the betrothal of Ingeborg and Frithiof.

The latter had won the people's enthusiastic admiration; but when they would fain have elected him king, Frithiof raised Sigurd Ring's little son up on his s.h.i.+eld and presented him to the a.s.sembled n.o.bles as their future king, publicly swearing to uphold him until he was of age to defend himself. The child, weary of his cramped position on the s.h.i.+eld, boldly sprang to the ground as soon as Frithiof's speech was ended, and alighted upon his feet. This act of daring in so small a child was enough to win the affection and admiration of all his rude subjects.

According to some accounts, Frithiof now made war against Ingeborg's brothers, and after conquering them, allowed them to retain their kingdom only upon condition of their paying him a yearly tribute. Then he and Ingeborg remained in Ringric until the young king was able to a.s.sume the government, when they repaired to Hordaland, a kingdom Frithiof had obtained by conquest, and which he left to his sons Gungthiof and Hunthiof.

[Sidenote: Frithiofs vision.] But according to Tegner's poem, Frithiof, soon after his second betrothal to Ingeborg, made a pious pilgrimage to his father's resting place, and while seated on the latter's funeral mound, plunged in melancholy and remorse at the sight of the desolation about him, he was favored by a vision of a new temple, more beautiful than the first, within whose portals he beheld the three Norns.

"And lo! reclining on their runic s.h.i.+elds The mighty Nornas now the portal fill; Three rosebuds fair which the same garden yields, With aspect serious, but charming still.

Whilst Urda points upon the blackened fields, The fairy temple Skulda doth reveal.

When Frithiof first his dazzled senses cleared, Rejoiced, admired, the vision disappeared."

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

The hero immediately understood that the G.o.ds had thus pointed out to him a means of atonement, and spared neither wealth nor pains to restore Balder's temple and grove, which soon rose out of the ashes in more than their former splendor.

When the temple was all finished, and duly consecrated to Balder's service, Frithiof received Ingeborg at the altar from her brothers' hands, and ever after lived on amicable terms with them.

"Now stepped Halfdan in Over the brazen threshold, and with wistful look Stood silent, at a distance from the dreaded one.

Then Frithiof loosed the Harness-hater from his thigh, Against the altar placed the golden buckler round, And forward came unarmed to meet his enemy: 'In such a strife,' thus he commenced, with friendly voice, 'The n.o.blest he who first extends the hand of peace.'

Then blushed King Halfdan deep, and drew his gauntlet off, And long-divided hands now firmly clasped each other, A mighty pressure, steadfast as the mountain's base.

The old man then absolved him from the curse which lay Upon the Varg i Veum,[1] on the outlawed man.

And as he spake the words, fair Ingeborg came in, Arrayed in bridal dress, and followed by fair maids, E'en as the stars escort the moon in heaven's vault.

Whilst tears suffused her soft and lovely eyes, she fell Into her brother's arms, but deeply moved he led His cherished sister unto Frithiof's faithful breast, And o'er the altar of the G.o.d she gave her hand Unto her childhood's friend, the darling of her heart."

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

[Footnote 1: Wolf in the sanctuaries.]

CHAPTER XVI.

RAGNAR LODBROK.

"Last from among the Heroes one came near, No G.o.d, but of the hero troop the chief-- Regner, who swept the northern sea with fleets, And ruled o'er Denmark and the heathy isles, Living; but Ella captured him and slew;-- A king whose fame then fill'd the vast of Heaven, Now time obscures it, and men's later deeds."

MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Balder Dead_.

[Sidenote: Ragnar Lodbrok saga.] Ragnar Lodbrok, who figures in history as the contemporary of Charlemagne, is one of the great northern heroes, to whom many mythical deeds of valor are ascribed. His story has given rise not only to the celebrated Ragnar Lodbrok saga, so popular in the thirteenth century, but also to many poems and songs by ancient scalds and modern poets. The material of the Ragnar Lodbrok saga was probably largely borrowed from the Volsunga saga and from the saga of Dietrich von Bern, the chief aim of the ancient composers being to connect the Danish dynasty of kings with the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir, and thereby to prove that their ancestor was no less a person than Odin.

The hero of this saga was Ragnar, the son of Sigurd Ring and his first wife, Alfild. According to one version of the story, as we have seen, Sigurd Ring married Ingeborg, and died, leaving Frithiof to protect his young son. According to another, Sigurd Ring appointed Ragnar as his successor, and had him recognized as future ruler by the Thing before he set out upon his last military expedition.

This was a quest for a new wife named Alfsol, a princess of Jutland, with whom, in spite of his advanced years, he had fallen pa.s.sionately in love.

Her family, however, rudely refused Sigurd Ring's request. When he came to win his bride by the force of arms, and they saw themselves defeated, they poisoned Alfsol rather than have her fall alive into the viking's hands.

Sigurd Ring, finding a corpse where he had hoped to clasp a living and loving woman, was so overcome with grief that he now resolved to die too.

By his orders Alfsol's body was laid in state on a funeral pyre on his best s.h.i.+p. Then, when the fire had been kindled, and the s.h.i.+p cut adrift from its moorings, Sigurd Ring sprang on board, and, stabbing himself, was burned with the fair maiden he loved.