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?"