Читать книгу Saga of Halfred the Sigskald - Felix Dahn - Страница 6

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And so soon as the Austr-Vogen was free from ice, the Singing Swan sailed towards Svearike, and through numberless perils into the great sea which lies to the south and east of Upland; and from thence she followed a river, as far as there was floating depth, upwards towards Tiunderland, and to Upsala.

And many will now believe that Halfred had a great struggle and much difficulty to overcome King Hartstein and his daughter, and will expect to hear how it came to pass.

But there is nothing to tell; for everything went easily and quickly with him, according to his wishes, which the heathen people again boasted had been thus arranged by Oski.

King Hartstein was, in general, a flinty-hearted man, full of suspicion, and short of speech. When, however, he saw Halfred, and called to him as he entered his hall, and drew near to the throne, and asked him—"Stranger, what desirest thou in Tiunderland, and of King Hartstein?"—And when Halfred, with that smile which Oski had bestowed upon him, looked into the fierce eyes, and joyously replied—"The best will I have that Tiunderland and King Hartstein possess—his daughter." Then the grim old man was at once won, and in his secret heart he wished that Halfred might be his son-in-law.

And then they went out to the court for the hammer-throwing, and the King threw well, but Halfred threw far better, and thus the first trial was won.

"Harder will thou find the second," said the old man, and led Halfred to the Skemma, the chamber of the women, where the breaker of men's wits, in a shining dark blue mantle, sat among her maidens, a head taller than any of them.

And they say that when Halfred entered the chamber, and his glance fell upon her, a hot tremor passed over her, and a sudden glow dyed her cheeks crimson, and confused her.

Certain it is that with a golden spindle, with which she had played rather than spun, she pricked her finger, and let it fall with a clatter.

But Sudha, the foremost of her maidens, the captive daughter of the King of Halogaland, who sat at her right hand, picked up the spindle, and held it. And many interpreted this later, as a bad omen. At the time, however, it was hardly observed.

And Vandrad the Skald said later to Halfred, that the woman had been elf-struck at the first sight of him: but he thereupon said earnestly—"It had been better had I been elf-struck at sight of her; but I remained unwounded."

And forthwith King Hartstein assembled all his courtiers, and the women of the castle, and the guests, in the hall, for the riddle solving.

And Harthild arose from the arm chair at his right hand, and her face grew crimson as she looked at Halfred, which—as they declare—had never before happened to her at the challenging of her riddle.

She paused for a space, looked downwards, then again upon Halfred, and now with searching and defiant eyes. And she began—

"What is held in Valhalla?

What is hidden in Hell?

What hammers in hammer?

And heads the strong helm?

What begins the host slaughter?

What closes a sigh?

And what holds in Harthild

The head and the heart?"

Then she would have seated herself, as was her wont after giving out the riddle; but struck by terror she remained standing, and grasped the arm of the chair; for Halfred, without any reflecting, stretched his right hand towards her, and spoke—

"Hast thou nothing harder,

Haughty one, hidden?

Then wreathe thy proud head

For Hymen in haste,

For what's held in Valhalla,

What's hidden in Hell,

What hammers in hammer,

And heads the strong helm,

What begins the host slaughter,

And closes a sigh,

What Harthild the haughty

The head and the heart holds,

What hovers deep hidden

In high thoughts of her heart,

And what here has Halfred

To proud Harthild holpen,

'Tis the Sacred Rune

The hero's own H."

Then Harthild sank pale with rage in her chair, and covered her head with her veil.

But when Hartstein, her father, drew near amidst loud cries of astonishment from the listeners in the hall, and would have drawn the veil from her face, she sprang up vehemently, threw back the veil—and they saw that she had wept—and cried in a harsh voice—

"Well has thou solved

The hidden riddle.

With mighty wit

Hast won a wife,

Woe to thee if tenderly

Thou usest her not!"

All kept silence, uneasy at these threatening unloving words. Halfred at length broke the stillness, he threw back his head, and shook his black locks, and laughed—"I will risk that! King Hartstein, this very day will I pay thee the bride's dower. When prepare we the bridal feast?"