The knowledge that Egwina had gained of forest lore during her residence
in the cottage of Denewulf, now stood her well in hand. With it she was
enabled to thread her way through the intricate mazes of the great wood.
At last, emerging from its eastern border, with brave heart the intrepid
girl struck boldly into Wessex, now overrun by the Danes.
Stopping at the houses of ceorl and thegn alike for shelter and
refreshment, she gave her merriest smile and sang her gayest songs. But
the Saxons were in no mood for festivity. Willingly they succored her,
and listened to her songs; but grave were their faces and heavy their
hearts, for the rule of the invader bore heavily upon them. Everywhere
the maiden heard the wail of the oppressed people: "Oh, that King Alfred
were here!"
Often and often was she tempted to tell them the glad news that Alfred
lived and was even then endeavoring to gather those to his standard who
were willing to peril life for liberty.
Restraining her ardor, however, for she knew not whom to trust, with a
heart burthened by the sorrows of the people, she went on her way.
One day, it was drawing near the evening and Egwina was trying to find
some place of shelter for the night, she was overtaken by a Danish man
and a young woman.
"Whither away, maiden?" queried the man, as they came up with her.
"I am a gleemaiden seeking shelter for the night," returned Egwina
boldly. "Who are ye, and whither do ye wend your way?"
"Sigurd the skald am I," answered the man, "and this is Gyda, my
daughter, who is a seid woman. A gleemaiden, thou sayest, in search of
shelter? Then hie with us to the dwelling of Hakon the jarl who hath a
feast to-night. Much glee will there be, for Gyda doth tell each and
every one his fate."
"What would a Saxon gleemaiden in the halls of Hakon the jarl?" cried
Egwina, knowing not how to be rid of her companions.
"It will be music to his heart," answered the skald. "Little doth he
reck whether thou beest Saxon or Dane so that thou dost make merry. Join
us, for sibbe are all gleemen and maidens whether they be skalds of the
Norseman, bards of the Welsh, or scops or gleemen of the Saxon. But thou
art alone, girl? Why travelest thou so?"
"There is naught else to do," answered she. Then, continuing after a
slight pause, "My grandfather and I for many years wandered the length
and breadth of the land. Now doth he lie dead, and alone do I follow the
harp."
"Thy grandfather! Alack! He was old then?" Sigurd declared rather than
questioned. "'Tis pity that Hela the death goddess comes to us all.
Methinks the AEsir should have bestowed the apples of Iduna upon man
that he might eat and be young again."
"Iduna? The apples?" Egwina looked bewildered. "Be not wroth, good
Sigurd, but I understand not what thou meanest."
"Hast not heard of Iduna?" asked the skald in surprise.
"Is she not a Saxon?" sneered Gyda, the seid woman, speaking for the
first time. "And are not the Saxons Christians? She hath been too busy
with mass and priest to have heard of Iduna."
"Then shall she be enlightened," cried Sigurd, while Egwina looked
hastily away from the coal-black eyes of the seid woman. Their gaze
filled her with a sort of nameless terror. Inviting she was not in
aspect, as was Gunnehilde in the forest, and involuntarily the girl
crossed herself. The woman's eyes glittered as she saw the action, but
she made no comment.
"Iduna," went on the skald, "lived in Asgard, the city of the AEsir. To
her care was given the apples of youth, which gave strength again to the
body, and color and light to face and eyes. She kept them in a casket
and never were they renewed. When the AEsir had need of them, she drew
forth from the case the apples which were small as peas until her hands
touched them. Others took the place of those taken out, so that the
casket was never empty. Always was it filled, and none knew whence they
came.
"But Thyassi Joetun looked with covetous eyes upon the apples of Iduna,
and sought how to get them. Once Odin, together with Loki the evil one,
and Hoenir, went from Asgard over the mountains to an uninhabited land,
and it was not easy for them to get food to eat. When they came down
into a valley they saw a herd of oxen, took one of them and prepared it
for the fire. When they thought it was cooked they took it off, but it
was not cooked. A second time, after waiting a little, they took it off,
and it was not cooked. They considered what might be the cause of this.
Then they heard a voice from the tree above them which said that he who
sat there caused this. They looked up, and a large eagle sat there. The
eagle said:
"'If thou wilt give me my fill of the ox, it shall be cooked.'
"They assented. The bird came slowly down from the tree, sat on the
hearth, and at once ate up the four shoulder pieces of the ox. Loki got
angry, took a large pole, and with all his strength struck the eagle. At
the blow the eagle flew into the air. The pole adhered to its body, and
the hands of Loki to one end of it. The eagle flew so that Loki's feet
touched the rocks, the stone heaps, and the trees. He thought his hands
would be torn from his shoulders.
"He shouted eagerly, asking the bird to spare him, but it answered that
he would never get loose unless he promised to make Iduna leave Asgard
with her apples. Loki promised this, got loose, and went home.
"At the appointed time, the evil one enticed Iduna to go to a wood out
of Asgard, by saying that he had found some apples which she would
prefer to her own, and asked her to take her apples with her to compare
them. Iduna went with him willingly, for he was one of the AEsir. As she
left the walls of Asgard behind, a fear seized upon her, and she would
have returned, for now it came to her that Bragi, her husband, the wise
and the eloquent, had told her never to leave the city. Even as the fear
seized upon her, Thyassi Joetun came in eagle's shape, took Iduna, and
flew away to his abode in Joetunheim.
"The AEsir were much grieved at the disappearance of Iduna, and soon
became gray-haired and old for the apples of youth had gone from them.
Hela the death goddess came from Niflheim, and abode among them also.
Then did the AEsir grieve more for the apples of Iduna. They held a
Thing (the parliament of the Norsemen is so called), and asked each
other for news of her. Then was it made known that she was last with
Loki. Odin, the fierce one, ordered Loki before him, and declared that
if he did not return Iduna, he should be put to death or torture.
"Then did the evil one fear, and consented to bring Iduna from
Joetunheim if Freyga would lend him the hawk skin which she owned. When
he got it, he flew north to Joetunheim, and one day came to Thyassi
Joetun who was sea-fishing. Iduna was at home alone. At first, she had
been glad when her bond maidens were always smiling; but soon she
discovered that they had no souls, and could not sympathize with her in
her sorrow.
"Often did Thyassi Joetun try to get the apples, but when he would touch
them they disappeared, and he could not. Angrily had he threatened Iduna
if she gave him not them, and now, full of wrath at her refusal, he had
gone sea-fishing. So Loki found her alone.
"He changed her into a nut, held her in his claws, and flew away as fast
as he could. But Thyassi Joetun in the form of an eagle pursued them.
The AEsir saw the hawk flying with the nut and the eagle pursuing, and
they went to the Asgard wall, and carried thither bundles of plane
shavings. When the hawk flew into the burgh, it came down at the wall.
"The AEsir set fire to the shavings, but the eagle could not stop when
it lost the hawk, and the fire caught its feathers and stopped it. The
AEsir were near, and slew Thyassi Joetun which was a very famous deed.
So did they have again the apples of youth.
"For my own part, I would that men might partake of them, for I like not
to get old."
"'Tis a pretty tale," remarked the maiden who had listened with
interest.
"Thinkest thou so?" cried the skald, much pleased. "Once such tales were
heritage of Saxon as well as Dane; but now have they turned aside from
the old gods, and taken up with mass and rood until their strength has
waned, and no longer have they courage in the strife. Truly, to the
followers of Odin doth the victory come."
"It hath not been so always," cried Egwina, stung out of caution. "I
trow that King Alfred hath borne the victory often from thee. What he
hath done, that will he do again."
"Maiden, what knowest thou of the king? Bracelets the most massive, many
gifts, and a place on the high seat would Guthrum give thee for tidings
of Alfred. Speak!"
"Naught, naught," answering the girl, realizing her mistake. "I speak
only a Saxon's hope. Is it unseemly that we should wish our king
victorious in place of thine?"
"Nay; 'tis natural," returned Sigurd. "But methought that thou didst
speak as if thou wert ware of the king's doings."
"I would that I were," answered the maiden with fervor. "What should a
simple maiden wot of the king?"
"Speaketh she the truth?" demanded Sigurd of his daughter.
"In seeming, but not in deed," returned the seid woman. "Be patient, my
father. This night in the hall of Hakon the jarl will Gyda perform the
seid. Then shalt thou know all that lieth in the maiden's heart."
"Sainted mother be with me!" murmured the girl under her breath.
"Knowest thou the fate songs, maiden?" asked Gyda.
"Nay; I am a Christian," answered the maiden simply.
"Then will I teach thee," remarked Gyda. "If thou hast a good voice thou
couldst he useful to me in singing the spell songs; for few they be that
know them. Listen, and thou shalt hear one now."
"Nay; rather let me hear more of thy tales," and Egwina looked
appealingly at the skald. "Well dost thou tell them, and I wonder not
that thou art welcome where there is glee."
"Thou shalt hear them then," cried Sigurd, flattered by her words.
"Later, daughter, canst thou use her for thy art. Now let her listen to
mine, for I have need to refresh my memory. Wise is she in the lore of
our craft; for a daughter of a skald, and a skald maiden is she. Then
knowest thou, maiden, how Skadi, the daughter of Thyassi Joetun, came to
Asgard to avenge her father?"
"No; I know but the tales of my own people," said Egwina, rejoiced that
she was not obliged to listen to the spell songs of the seid woman.
"Listen then! All Asgard rejoiced at the death of Thyassi Joetun, when
Skadi, his daughter, took helmet and brynja (shield), and a complete war
dress, and came to Asgard to avenge her father. The AEsir offered her
reconciliation and a weregeld, but first that she might choose from
among them a husband. Then was the heart of Skadi made glad, for a live
husband is better than a dead father; so she consented to the
reconciliation.
"The AEsir could not agree among themselves as to which one she should
take, so they made Skadi choose from among them, not seeing more than
the feet. They stood behind a large curtain, and only their feet could
be seen below it. Now Skadi wished very much to have Baldur, the
beautiful, for a husband, so she looked very carefully at the feet, and
chose the most beautiful pair, saying, 'This one I choose. Few things
can be ugly in Baldur.'
"But it was not Baldur at all, but Njord, the old one, whom she had
chosen. Then did the AEsir laugh and exult. Skadi was angry, but she was
fain to abide by her choice, for she alone had done the choosing."
Egwina laughed, interested in spite of her fears.
"Methinks I would rather choose by the countenance than the feet," she
cried merrily. "Men's looks reflect their deeds, and a clear eye doth
oft show a kind heart as well as a brave one."
"True, child. Much wisdom is there in thy speech. Remember well thy
words, and when Skulda doth mingle another's golden thread with thine,
look well to face and heart as well as strength of arm, and well-shaped
feet."
"Already is the web of her fate woven," declared the seid woman. "Skulda
hath already interwoven with hers the warp and woof of greatness."
"How dost thou know?" cried Egwina. "Thou canst not know such things. I
believe it not. Little care I for my fate until I come to it, and I wot
that my life depends not on thy tongue roots."
The ghost of a smile flitted over the face of the woman.
"Thus didst thou not speak when the vala unraveled for thee thy dream.
To-night thou shalt know more of thy future, and we shall know more of
thee. Thy design and what of import that is which thou dost carry in thy
bosom."
Involuntarily the maiden's hand went to the bosom of her tunic, for
there did she carry the jewel that the king had given her. A light
flashed into Gyda's eyes, and again did the maiden cross herself.
"Here are we come at last to the dwelling of Hakon the jarl," said
Sigurd, turning into the courtyard of a large wooden dwelling which had
belonged to a Saxon thegn. "Here do we dwell for the night."
"I will pass on," said Egwina, trying to speak calmly. "I see in yon
distance the house of a ceorl. Happier far will I be to abide with mine
own people. I thank ye both for sweet and gracious entertainment, and
bid ye God-speed."
So saying, she started onward, but the seid woman was by her side
instantly.
"Too gracious hath been thy company, maiden," she cried with glittering
eyes, "for us now to be deprived of it. Besides, hath not my father
entertained thee with tales of our people? Now them must listen to the
spell songs of Gyda."
"Prithee insist not upon it," entreated the girl. "I would go onward."
"Be with us for the night, maiden," spoke Sigurd. "Naught of harm shall
befall thee if thy intent be good. Darkness hath begun to settle over
the earth, and it is not meet for maiden to be out alone. Thou art of my
craft, and Sigurd will ask of thee only thy songs and glee. Unless it so
be that thou hast some mission to perform and must be on thy way, I
entreat thee to stay with us."
So much against her wish, Egwina was forced to enter the dwelling of
Hakon the jarl.