THE END OF THE TALE
Gunnar found himself rich with all his Swedish treasure, and bought land
in a dale of Drontheim, and set to work building a fine house. About
Christmas-time Sigrid gave birth to a son, which was a great affair. But
before any of these things happened to him he had to see King Olaf, who
received him with a wry smile.
"So you are not only contumacious, but inveterate in sin," he said; but
Gunnar could see that he wasn't angry. "You not only deny my God, but
set yourself up as His rival. And now you are in my hands, what am I to
do?"
"Sir," said Gunnar, "it is rather true that the only way I had of
escaping your rope was to run among the heathen. As for my godhead,
that in a sense was forced upon me. I would have you remark that I slew
a god before I became one myself."
"You slew a god and took his wife," said the king. "I should like to see
Frey's wife. You shall bring her to me, if you please. I have many
questions to put to her."
So Sigrid was brought to King Olaf, who questioned her alone. But he
found it one thing to question and another thing to get answered. As for
her origin she was quite willing to repeat all that she had told Gunnar
early in her acquaintance with him. King Olaf knew her country and the
city of Prag, from which it seemed she had come, very well. Then he
wanted to know about her marriage with Frey, and she became dumb. How
long was it before she knew that Frey was nought? No answer. What sort
of communication had passed between her and Frey? No answer. Was Frey
kind to her? Did he beat her? Was it his eyes which dominated her? No
answers.
Lastly he said this: "Have you told Gunnar everything that there is to
tell?"
To that she answered, "Yes," and her eyes were unclouded and not afraid
of the king's.
"Well!" said Olaf; and that was all there was to say about it.
The king told Gunnar that he was not married at all, to which Gunnar
answered, "Ho, am I not?" But he went on to say that he had vowed
himself to Christianity on the night of his marriage, and that he and
Sigrid were very ready to accomplish the vow. The king agreed to it; so
the pair of them went into the water with the Bishop of Drontheim, and
were afterwards married again by the laws of Christendom and Holy
Church.
Men sat still then for the winter, and in the spring King Olaf gathered
his hosts and fitted out his long ships for work in Iceland. Gunnar
excused himself, saying that he was busy with his new house and his
child; but he spoke more freely to Sigurd.
"I know one thing which you intend doing over there," he said, "and I
will have no share in it myself. I owe no grudge to Ogmund Dint, though
it was a dirty trick he played me for his own beastly ends. But I got
Sigrid out of the adventure and everything I possess, and that's enough
for me."
"Plenty," said Sigurd, "and I am with you, and should do the same if I
were in your place. But the king won't have slayings done in Norway
unavenged. He is very bitter against Ogmund, and I fancy it will go hard
with him."
"I don't doubt that," said Gunnar. "King Olaf is a hard nut to crack."
The expedition sailed, and sailed north. The landing was made in Shaw
Firth where Ogmund's father, Raven, was a great man. But Ogmund himself
was not there. Wigfus, who was in the host, told the king where he would
be found, and when matters had been settled in the north the fleet
sailed about to the east of Iceland and made a new landing, not far from
Thwartwater.
Ogmund was one of the first of the chieftains in those parts to submit
himself to King Olaf's baptism.
The king received him coldly and put him on one side. "I will consider
of it," he said, "but first I wish to see old Battle-Glum, who is a man
after my own heart."
Battle-Glum was brought before him, and refused to have anything to do
with Christianity. "I am an old man now," he said, "looking out for my
end. It is late for me to change my opinions. Thor is the god I worship,
and in that faith will I die. It matters very little to me whether I
die at your hands, or in my bed. I have settled all my affairs. Wigfus
will take Thwartwater after me. He is young and can follow what gods he
pleases. So also can Ogmund, my foster-son."
"Wigfus your son," said the king, "is a Christian already; but Ogmund
your foster-son is not. He is here at hand, and I will have him in
before you that you may know something about him before you die."
Ogmund was brought in, and Sigurd also was present. Sigurd said, "The
last time you were in Drontheim you left something behind you which I
desire to give back. But there is some doubt left open which of two
things is yours, and I would have you settle it, Ogmund."
Ogmund said that he would do so with pleasure.
Then Sigurd said, "You left a dead man lying in his blood, and a cloak."
Ogmund Dint said that he left no cloak, "and as for the man, I slew him
fairly."
Sigurd said, "You left two cloaks, one in the water with a great stone
in it, and one on the back of my brother Gunnar. Here they are. Which do
you say is yours?"
Ogmund was very troubled. He touched the fine cloak. "I say that that is
mine."
"You lie, Ogmund," said Sigurd. "That was in Gunnar's keeping. He gave
it to me."
Then Ogmund was for justifying himself to the king; but King Olaf told
the story at length to Battle-Glum. Glum listened to it, and said
little. "Thrall's blood will show itself," he said. "I expected
something of the kind." Then he turned to King Olaf and said, "Do you
propose to have this man baptized?" The king said, "I do."
Then Battle-Glum said, "And do you ask me to be of the same religion?"
The king told him he could do as he pleased. "You are a credit to any
religion," he told him.
Ogmund Dint asked vehemently for baptism.
"You shall have it," said King Olaf. "You shall be baptized first and
hanged afterwards, lest your punishment be eternal as well as temporal."
Which was done.
THE END
Butler & Tanner; Frome and London.
End of Project Gutenberg's Frey and His Wife, by Maurice Henry Hewlett