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playing chess with a friend, Björn, and immediately made known his errand.
"'From Belé'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 tr.).
But Frithiof was so deeply offended that even this appeal in the name of his beloved could not move him.
Quietly he continued his game of chess, and, when it was ended, told Hilding that he had no answer to give.
Rightly concluding that Frithiof would lend the kings no aid, Hilding returned to Helgé and Halfdan, who,
forced to fight without their bravest leader, preferred to make a treaty with Sigurd Ring, promising to give him
not only their sister Ingeborg, but also a yearly tribute.
[Sidenote: At Balder's shrine.] While they were thus engaged at Sogn Sound, Frithiof hastened to Balder's
temple, where, as Hilding had declared, he found Ingeborg 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 see his beloved in
tears without attempting to console her; and, forgetting all else, he spoke to her and comforted her. He
repeated how dearly he loved her, quieted all her apprehensions of the gods' anger by assuring her that Balder,
the good, must view their innocent passion with approving eyes, said that love as pure as theirs could defile no
sanctuary, and plighted his troth to her before the shrine.
[Illustration: THE LOVERS AT BALDER'S SHRINE.--Kepler.]
"'What whisper you of Balder's ire? The pious god--he is not wrath. He loves himself, and doth inspire Our
love--the purest he calls forth. The god with true and steadfast heart, The sun upon his glittering form, Is not
his love for Nanna part Of his own nature, pure and warm?
"'There is his image; he is near. How mild he looks on me--how kind! A sacrifice to him I'll bear, The offer
of a loving mind. Kneel down with me; no better gift, No fairer sure for Balder is, Than two young hearts,
whose love doth lift Above the world almost like his.'" TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
Reassured by this reasoning, Ingeborg no longer refused to see and converse with Frithiof; and during the
kings' absence the young lovers met every day, and plighted their troth with Volund's ring, which Ingeborg
solemnly promised to send back to her lover should she break her promise to live for him alone. Frithiof
lingered there until the kings' return, when, for love 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
CHAPTER XV. 121
and promise him their sister's hand.
"'War is abroad, And strikes his echoing shield within our borders; Thy crown and land, King Helgé, are in
danger; Give me thy sister's hand, and I will use Henceforth my warlike force in thy defense. Let then the
wrath between us be forgotten, Unwillingly I strive 'gainst Ingborg's brother. Secure, O king, by one fraternal
act Thy golden crown and save thy sister's heart. Here is my hand. By Thor, I ne'er again Present it here for
reconciliation.'" TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
[Sidenote: Frithiof in disgrace.] But although this offer was hailed with rapture by the assembled warriors, it
was again scornfully rejected by Helgé, who declared that he would have granted it had not Frithiof proved
himself unworthy of all confidence by defiling the temple of the gods. Frithiof tried to defend himself; but as
he had to plead guilty to the accusation of having conversed with Ingeborg at Balder's shrine, he was
convicted of having broken the law, and, in punishment therefor, condemned to sail off to the Orkney Islands
to claim tribute from the king, Angantyr.
Before he sailed, however, he once more sought Ingeborg, and vainly tried to induce her to elope with him by
promising her 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. 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.
"'But Helgé is my father, Stands in my father's place; on his consent Depends my hand, and Belé's daughter
steals not Her earthly happiness, how near it be.'" TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
After a heartrending parting scene, Frithiof embarked upon Ellida, and sorrowfully sailed out of the harbor,
while Ingeborg wept at his departure. When the vessel was barely out of sight, Helgé sent for two witches
named Heid and Ham, bidding them begin their incantations, and stir up such a tempest at sea that it would be
impossible for even the god-given vessel Ellida to withstand its fury, and all on board would perish. The
witches immediately complied; and with Helgé's aid they soon stirred up a storm 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 tr.).
[Sidenote: The tempest.] In spite of tossing waves and whistling blasts, Frithiof sang a cheery song to reassure
his frightened crew; but when the peril grew so great that his exhausted men gave themselves up for lost, he
bade Björn hold the rudder, and himself climbed up to the mast top to view the horizon. While perched up
there he descried a whale, upon which the two witches were riding at ease. Speaking to his good ship, which
was gifted with the power of understanding and obeying his words, he now ran down both witches and whale,
and the sea was reddened with their blood. No sooner had they sunk than the wind fell, the waves ceased to
heave and toss as before, and soon fair weather again smiled over the seas.
"Now the storm has flown, The sea is calm awhile; A gentle swell is blown Against the neighboring isle.
"Then at once the sun arose, Like a king who mounts his throne, Vivifies the world and throws His light on
billow, field, and stone. His new-born beams adorn awhile A dark green grove on rocky top, All recognize a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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