Trained for either camp or court, Skilful in each manly sport, Young and beautiful and tall;Art of warfare, craft of chases, Swimming, skating, snow-shoe races Excellent alike in all.
When at sea, with all his rowers, He along the bending oars Outside of his ship could run.
He the Smalsor Horn ascended, And his shining shield suspended, On its summit, like a sun.
On the ship-rails he could stand, Wield his sword with either hand, And at once two javelins throw;At all feasts where ale was strongest Sat the merry monarch longest, First to come and last to go.
Norway never yet had seen One so beautiful of mien, One so royal in attire, When in arms completely furnished, Harness gold-inlaid and burnished, Mantle like a flame of fire.
Thus came Olaf to his own, When upon the night-wind blown Passed that cry along the shore;And he answered, while the rifted Streamers o'er him shook and shifted, "I accept thy challenge, Thor!"III
THORA OF RIMOL
"Thora of Rimol! hide me! hide me!
Danger and shame and death betide me!
For Olaf the King is hunting me down Through field and forest, through thorp and town!"Thus cried Jarl Hakon To Thora, the fairest of women.
Hakon Jarl! for the love I bear thee Neither shall shame nor death come near thee!
But the hiding-place wherein thou must lie Is the cave underneath the swine in the sty."Thus to Jarl Hakon Said Thora, the fairest of women.
So Hakon Jarl and his base thrall Karker Crouched in the cave, than a dungeon darker, As Olaf came riding, with men in mail, Through the forest roads into Orkadale, Demanding Jarl Hakon Of Thorn, the fairest of women.
"Rich and honored shall be whoever The head of Hakon Jarl shall dissever!"Hakon heard him, and Karker the slave, Through the breathing-holes of the darksome cave.
Alone in her chamber Wept Thora, the fairest of women.
Said Karker, the crafty, "I will not slay thee!
For all the king's gold I will never betray thee!""Then why dost thou turn so pale, O churl, And then again black as the earth?" said the Earl.
More pale and more faithful Was Thora, the fairest of women.
From a dream in the night the thrall started, saying, "Round my neck a gold ring King Olaf was laying!"And Hakon answered, "Beware of the king!
He will lay round thy neck a blood-red ring."At the ring on her finger Gazed Thorn, the fairest of women.
At daybreak slept Hakon, with sorrows encumbered, But screamed and drew up his feet as he slumbered;The thrall in the darkness plunged with his knife, And the Earl awakened no more in this life.
But wakeful and weeping Sat Thorn, the fairest of women.
At Nidarholm the priests are all singing, Two ghastly heads on the gibbet are swinging;One is Jarl Hakon's and one is his thrall's, And the people are shouting from windows and walls;While alone in her chamber Swoons Thorn, the fairest of women.
IV
QUEEN SIGRID THE HAUGHTY
Queen Sigrid the Haughty sat proud and aloft In her chamber, that looked over meadow and croft.
Heart's dearest, Why dost thou sorrow so?
The floor with tassels of fir was besprent, Filling the room with their fragrant scent.
She heard the birds sing, she saw the sun shine, The air of summer was sweeter than wine.
Like a sword without scabbard the bright river lay Between her own kingdom and Norroway.
But Olaf the King had sued for her hand, The sword would be sheathed, the river be spanned.
Her maidens were seated around her knee, Working bright figures in tapestry.
And one was singing the ancient rune Of Brynhilda's love and the wrath of Gudrun.
And through it, and round it, and over it all Sounded incessant the waterfall.
The Queen in her hand held a ring of gold, From the door of Lade's Temple old.
King Olaf had sent her this wedding gift, But her thoughts as arrows were keen and swift.
She had given the ring to her goldsmiths twain, Who smiled, as they handed it back again.
And Sigrid the Queen, in her haughty way, Said, "Why do you smile, my goldsmiths, say?"And they answered: "O Queen! if the truth must be told, The ring is of copper, and not of gold!"The lightning flashed o'er her forehead and cheek, She only murmured, she did not speak:
"If in his gifts he can faithless be, There will be no gold in his love to me."A footstep was heard on the outer stair, And in strode King Olaf with royal air.
He kissed the Queen's hand, and he whispered of love, And swore to be true as the stars are above.
But she smiled with contempt as she answered: "O King, Will you swear it, as Odin once swore, on the ring?"And the King: "O speak not of Odin to me, The wife of King Olaf a Christian must be."Looking straight at the King, with her level brows, She said, "I keep true to my faith and my vows."Then the face of King Olaf was darkened with gloom, He rose in his anger and strode through the room.
"Why, then, should I care to have thee?" he said,--"A faded old woman, a heathenish jade!
His zeal was stronger than fear or love, And he struck the Queen in the face with his glove.
Then forth from the chamber in anger he fled, And the wooden stairway shook with his tread.
Queen Sigrid the Haughty said under her breath, "This insult, King Olaf, shall be thy death!"Heart's dearest, Why dost thou sorrow so?
V
THE SKERRY OF SHRIEKS
Now from all King Olaf's farms His men-at-arms Gathered on the Eve of Easter;To his house at Angvalds-ness Fast they press, Drinking with the royal feaster.
Loudly through the wide-flung door Came the roar Of the sea upon the Skerry;And its thunder loud and near Reached the ear, Mingling with their voices merry.
"Hark!" said Olaf to his Scald, Halfred the Bald, "Listen to that song, and learn it!
Half my kingdom would I give, As I live, If by such songs you would earn it!
"For of all the runes and rhymes Of all times, Best I like the ocean's dirges, When the old harper heaves and rocks, His hoary locks Flowing and flashing in the surges!"Halfred answered: "I am called The Unappalled!
Nothing hinders me or daunts me.