In the northernmost part of the Mediterranean there lies an island
close to the coast. They now came and asked to buy that, on which a
general council was held.
The mother's advice was asked, and she wished to see them at
some distance, so she saw no harm in it; but as we afterwards
saw what a mistake we had made, we called the island Missellia
(Marseilles). Hereafter will be seen what reason we had. The Golen,
as the missionary priests of Sidon were called, had observed that
the land there was thinly peopled, and was far from the mother. In
order to make a favourable impression, they had themselves called
in our language followers of the truth; but they had better have
been called abstainers from the truth, or, in short, "Triuwenden,"
as our seafaring people afterwards called them. When they were well
established, their merchants exchanged their beautiful copper weapons
and all sorts of jewels for our iron weapons and hides of wild beasts,
which were abundant in our southern countries; but the Golen celebrated
all sorts of vile and monstrous festivals, which the inhabitants
of the coast promoted with their wanton women and sweet poisonous
wine. If any of our people had so conducted himself that his life was
in danger, the Golen afforded him a refuge, and sent him to Phonisia,
that is, Palmland. When he was settled there, they made him write to
his family, friends, and connections that the country was so good and
the people so happy that no one could form any idea of it. In Britain
there were plenty of men, but few women. When the Golen knew this,
they carried off girls everywhere and gave them to the Britons for
nothing. So all these girls served their purpose to steal children
from Wr-alda in order to give them to false gods.
NOW WE WILL WRITE ABOUT THE WAR BETWEEN THE BURGTMAAGDEN KALTA AND
MIN-ERVA,
And how we thereby lost all our southern lands and Britain to the
Golen.
Near the southern mouth of the Rhine and the Scheldt there are seven
islands, named after Frya's seven virgins of the week. In the middle
of one island is the city of Walhallagara (Middelburg), and on the
walls of this city the following history is inscribed. Above it are
the words "Read, learn, and watch."
Five hundred and sixty-three years after the submersion of Atland--that
is, 1600 years before Christ--a wise town priestess presided here,
whose name was Min-erva--called by the sailors Nyhellenia. This name
was well chosen, for her counsels were new and clear above all others.
On the other side of the Scheldt, at Flyburgt, Sijrhed presided. This
maiden was full of tricks. Her face was beautiful, and her tongue
was nimble; but the advice that she gave was always conveyed in
mysterious terms. Therefore the mariners called her Kalta, and the
landsmen thought it was a title. In the last will of the dead mother,
Rosamond was named first, Min-erva second, and Sijrhed third in
succession. Min-erva did not mind that, but Sijrhed was very much
offended. Like a foreign princess, she wished to be honoured, feared,
and worshipped; but Min-erva only desired to be loved. At last all
the sailors, even from Denmark and Flymeer, did homage to her. This
hurt Sijrhed, because she wanted to excel Min-erva. In order to
give an impression of her great watchfulness, she had a cock put
on her banner. So then Min-erva went and put a sheep-dog and an owl
on her banner. The dog, she said, guards his master and his flock,
and the owl watches that the mice shall not devastate the fields;
but the cock in his lewdness and his pride is only fit to murder his
nearest relations. When Kalta found that her scheme had failed she
was still more vexed, so she secretly sent for the Magyars to teach
her conjuring. When she had had enough of this she threw herself into
the hands of the Gauls; but all her malpractices did not improve her
position. When she saw that the sailors kept more and more aloof from
her, she tried to win them back by fear. At the full moon, when the
sea was stormy, she ran over the wild waves, calling to the sailors
that they would all be lost if they did not worship her. Then she
blinded their eyes, so that they mistook land for water and water for
land, and in this way many a good ship was totally lost. At the first
war-feast, when all her countrymen were armed, she brought casks of
beer, which she had drugged. When they were all drunk she mounted her
war-horse, leaning her head upon her spear. Sunrise could not be more
beautiful. When she saw that the eyes of all were fixed upon her,
she opened her lips and said:--
Sons and daughters of Frya, you know that in these last times we have
suffered much loss and misery because the sailors no longer come to
buy our paper, but you do not know what the reason of it is. I have
long kept silence about it, but can do so no longer. Listen, then,
my friends, that you may know on which side to show your teeth. On
the other side of the Scheldt, where from time to time there come
ships from all parts, they make now paper from pumpkin leaves, by
which they save flax and outdo us. Now, as the making of paper was
always our principal industry, the mother willed that people should
learn it from us; but Min-erva has bewitched all the people--yes,
bewitched, my friends--as well as all our cattle that died lately. I
must come out with it. If I were not Burgtmaagd, I should know what
to do. I should burn the witch in her nest.
As soon as she had uttered these words she sped away to her citadel;
but the drunken people were so excited that they did not stop to weigh
what they had heard. In mad haste they hurried over the Sandfal,
and as night came on they burst into the citadel. However, Kalta
again missed her aim; for Min-erva, her maidens, and her lamp were
all saved by the alertness of the seamen.