THE WEDDING OF IVAR AND RANDALIN
ABOUT a year after the sad events just recorded, the day of the union of
Ivar and Randalin approached. Great preparations were made in Upsalir
for their wedding. The most costly tapestries that had been embroidered
by the successive wives and daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had
been taken out from the store-rooms where they had been sacredly kept,
for these were only used for adorning the walls of the halls at
weddings. Many of them represented romantic episodes in the courtship of
the maidens who had embroidered them. Likewise the bridal bench
ornamented with gold and silver and with rich carvings was brought out.
How many beautiful daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had been seated
upon those benches since Upsalir had been founded! What an array of
illustrious maidens could be named! What a history could be told to us
of the race descended from them! What a diversity of character and
temper these women possessed! But, in despite of that splendor of life,
many a young heart had been disappointed, for their union had not proved
as congenial and as happy as they expected. Many of the girlish visions
and dreams which belong to youth had not been fulfilled as they had
hoped. The Nornir had woven a thick mist before their eyes to hide the
future. Many had found that station, fame, wealth, and power did not
give happiness, and had often envied the merry laughter that came from
the house of the humble, and even from the cabin of the slave.
For two weeks preceding the wedding, the guests began to arrive in great
numbers. The Hersirs of Gardariki, Holmgard, Fyen, Zeeland, and from the
herads of Norway, were received with great honor; large houses, well
furnished, were given to each high-born guest, and the servants took
care that they should lack nothing. Ivar arrived with a large number of
men of high birth four days before the wedding.
The day of the wedding came at last. After the guests had all assembled
in the great hall, Randalin, under snowy bridal linen, entered by the
woman’s door, followed by her bridesmaids. Her beautiful features were
seen but dimly through the gauzy drapery, fastened with great skill,
with a jewel of exquisite beauty, upon her head. On her neck could be
seen through the transparent linen a necklace of gold beads, upon which
the artist had lavished his greatest skill; from her belt of gold hung a
bunch of keys, showing that she was to rule the household of Ivar. With
a slow and majestic step she advanced towards the bridal bench, then
seated herself in the midst of her ten bridesmaids. These were Alfhild,
daughter of one of the Hersirs of Holmgard; Thora, daughter of one of
the Hersirs of Gardariki; Hildegerd, daughter of the Hersir of the
island of Funen; Svanhild, niece of the Hersir of the island of Zeeland;
Randgrid, daughter of the Hersir who ruled on the southern side of the
present Christiania fjord; Geirlaug, whose father ruled over a large
island in Friesland; Hildigunn, the daughter of Grammar of Britain;
Ingegerd, Sigrid, and Thorhalla, cousins of the bride, and daughters of
very powerful Haulds, who had the blood of Odin in their veins.
Each bridesmaid seated herself according to the order of precedence.
Alfhild was on the right of the bride, and Thora on the left, and then
came Hildigunn and Svanhild, and the others followed. Great care had
been taken to seat them according to their rank, for women were most
particular in that respect, and were very jealous of their privileges,
and when not properly seated often considered it a personal affront.
The bridegroom entered next, followed by his groomsmen. These were
Sigurd and Sigmund, his two foster-brothers; Thorbrand, the brother of
Alfhild; Thord, the brother of Thora; Geir, the brother of Hildigunn;
Skeggi, the brother of Svanhild; Ingolf, the cousin of Geirbaug; Ali the
Bold, and Hunding, Hroar, and Bard, who were powerful Vikings.
Ivar seated himself on the high seat opposite that of Yngvi. On his left
sat Sigurd, and on his right, Sigmund; then came Thorbrand and Thord,
and the rest seated themselves according to their rank. By one accord,
they had given the precedence to Sigurd and Sigmund; not that they were
the highest, but because they knew the love that existed between Ivar
and his two foster-brothers, who had shared so many dangers together. On
the side of Yngvi were the highest Hersirs of the land, and great number
of lots were drawn on that day by men of equal rank for seats of honor.
The scene was one of great splendor. The women were magnificently
dressed, and vied with each other in the richness of their gowns and in
the beauty of their jewels. After entering the hall, they took off their
festal mantles, embroidered with gold, and displayed their lovely
toilets.
They all wore the “slœdur,” or festal dress, with long trains sweeping
the ground. These were made of the costliest material that could be
procured on the Caspian or from Greece, and embroidered with gold and
silver. The bodices of the dresses in many instances did not reach so
high as to cover their shoulders; and that part was covered by a guimpe
of pale blue or snowy white silk, and showed dimly, to great advantage,
their milk-white skin. Some wore a wide, loose, unattached collar,
almost hiding the neck, richly embroidered with gold. The married women
wore graceful head-dresses. The shoe-cloths were also richly
embroidered, reaching nearly as high as the knee.
They wore their hair in different styles; some had it twisted in a large
topknot, which was made fast with long hair-pins of gold and silver,
with heads of exquisite workmanship; others had their hair pushed back,
and tied in a short, loose knot, made fast with a ribbon of gold; a
diadem of gold adorned the forehead of almost every woman. They wore
necklaces of gold beads or mosaic, or of gold Roman coins, separated
from each other by elongated beads of gold. On their arms were graceful
gold bracelets, most of them spiral in shape, and upon their fingers
were many rings. Belts of gold contrasted with their dresses, and showed
to advantage the waists they encircled. From these hung leather or
velvet bags embroidered with gold.
The groomsmen of Ivar were dressed in their most costly garments, and
all wore their cloaks of dignity and rank. All the male guests were
likewise in costly attire.
Then Yngvi, as high priest of the temple, consecrated the bride, and
wedded Randalin to Ivar, by making over them the sign of the hammer of
Thor, and invoked the goddess Var, who had listened to their vows. After
this Randalin was holy, as a wife, in the sight of every man.
This ceremony ended, the bridegroom advanced towards Randalin, and
presented her the “lin-fee,” or trousseau, in which were included
beautiful bracelets, necklaces, and diadems of gold. There were several
mantles of different colors, and various head-dresses, gloves, shoes,
underwear of silk and linen, and night-dresses with long sleeves, of the
finest linen the land could produce. Some were of silk, the material for
which had been brought by Ivar from the shores of the Caspian.
Then the gifts called the bridal bench gifts followed. These were called
bench gifts because each guest presented a gift to the bride while she
was seated on the bridal bench. Guest after guest lay before Randalin
the beautiful presents that he or she had brought for her.
A great-aunt, from the island of Fyen, gave her with her bench gift a
gold coin of Tiberius, who was Roman emperor 14-37 A.D., which had come
into the possession of her ancestors during the life of that emperor.
Another aunt sent her, among her presents, a gold coin of Claudius,
41-54 A.D., that had been in the possession of her kinsmen since that
time.
Among the many gifts of Sigrlin, Ivar’s mother, was a gold coin of
Titus, 79-81 A.D., which had been got by the ancestors of Hjorvard in
the Mediterranean at the time Titus took Jerusalem.
A cousin gave her a gold coin of Decius, 249-251 A.D.; another, a gold
coin of Aurelian, 270-275 A.D.
An uncle of Randalin, from southern Svithjod, gave her a gold coin of
Probus, 276-282 A.D., which his son had given to him.
There were many exquisite jewels, necklaces made of rods of gold;
diadems of gold, with Randalin’s name in runic letters upon them; spiral
bracelets of gold; belts of gold and of silver; beautiful hair-pins of
gold and silver, with ornamented tops highly finished; necklaces of
mosaic beads of great beauty, and gold beads; and bracteates with gold
chains of beautiful workmanship.
Gurid, an aunt of Randalin, sent her, by her son, a woman’s headgear,
carefully put in a bag of velvet all embroidered with gold.
Sigurd gave her a large quantity of Grecian fabrics, and many jewels of
gold. Sigmund likewise gave the rarest glassware that could be procured
in Greece, or on the island of Cyprus. Gudbrand, the father of Hjalmar,
had brought her many dishes of gold and silver. Sigrid, his wife, sent
her beautiful tapestries which she had embroidered herself.
Thora gave a beautiful piece of tapestry which Astrid had embroidered
before her death, representing Ivar playing at the ball games that had
taken place the year before, while she was in Upsalir. In the background
were Yngvi and the women who were looking on.
Gunnhild, her youngest sister, gave her a gold embroidered bag.
Yngvi gave his daughter as a bench gift a dower of gold and silver, and
many costly objects, and also two landed estates, one in the present
Courland, and the other in Venden in the present Pomerania. The presents
which Randalin received that day represented a large fortune in gold and
silver.
* * * * *
Immediately after all the bench gifts had been presented, great
preparations were made for the wedding feast which took place soon
afterwards. The Hersir of Svithjod had spared no expense. New vats for
beer and ale had been made, and an extraordinary quantity of ale and
beer had been brewed, and wine was not lacking. The tables were set with
great magnificence.
The three halls had a gala appearance. The tables in front of the seat
were covered with beautiful embroidered tablecloths, and were adorned
with the most costly Grecian and Cypriote glasses. The dishes containing
the viands were of gold and silver. The drinking horns, or vases, were
of many kinds, some of solid gold, others of silver ornamented with
gold, and Grecian cups of cut glass were very abundant. At night, light
was furnished by big wax candles.
The great Hersirs that were present agreed to sit in turn on the high
seats, to the great relief of Yngvi, who feared a contest for
precedence. The viands spread on the tables were beef, roast veal, pig,
venison, birds, and fish. All these were served in gold plates, and all
the plates set before the guests were of silver.
Special servants, called “fillers,” saw that the horns were always full,
and carried them round. The throng was so great that slaves had to be
called in, who wore clean, new, white “vadmal,” or woolen, and all had
their hair newly close-cropped.
Among the female slaves some were of great beauty, and had been brought
from Britain, Gaul, Greece and Rome. They also filled the horns, and
carried them round.
There was great drinking and much merriment, and also invocation of the
gods. The wedding lasted six weeks, which corresponds to a period of a
month with us. Scalds recited poetry every day before admiring
audiences; and, as at the games, this feast was to be the cause of other
weddings in the near future, for during it many men and women had fallen
in love with one another.
No man ever heard of a greater feast. When it ended, all the guests
departed with costly gifts.
* * * * *
The time when Randalin was to leave Upsalir, to part from all that had
been dear to her in her girlhood, had arrived. A new epoch of her life
had dawned upon her without her being aware of it. Her girlhood’s
careless joys had departed forever. All had been so bright in her youth,
that she fancied it would continue to the end of her life. She possessed
Ivar, and happiness was assured to her forever.
Skuld had carefully concealed from her gaze the future. Little did she
dream of the stormy billows of life ahead, of the sorrows that befall
every mortal man and woman. Ivar was all to her, and for him she was
willing to sacrifice even her life. Love was her own. O Skuld, how kind
thou art to hide from man the decrees of the Nornir, who have shaped our
lives from our birth! We came into the world through no will of our own,
and we know not in the beginning of the day what fate will bring forth
before night.
Randalin’s eyes, full of hope, were looking into the future. Hope and
the Future, those twin sisters, were brighter in her eyes than the rays
of the sun. Ivar belonged to her, and Love owned them both.
* * * * *
The dragon-ship that carried Ivar and Randalin to Dampstadir, carried
the sweetest, the loveliest of wives, and the manliest and wisest of
husbands.
LONDON:
PRINTED FROM AMERICAN PLATES BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
○ Unbalanced quotation marks were left as the author intended.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a
predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text in
bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).
End of Project Gutenberg's Ivar the Viking, by Paul Belloni Du Chaillu