DAGNY. Ay, true, true.
SIGURD (giving his his hand). In thee will Ornulf find a stout
carl, or I mistake me.
THOROLF. Would he but prove me----!
DAGNY (smiling). He spares thee more than thou hast a mind to? Thou
wast ever well-nigh too dear to him.
SIGURD. Whither has he gone?
THOROLF. Down to his ships;--he will return ere long.
SIGURD. I await my men; they are mooring my ships and bringing
ashore wares.
THOROLF. There must I lend a hand!
(Goes down towards the shore.)
SIGURD (after a moment's reflection). Dagny, my wife, we are alone;
I have that to tell thee which must no longer be hidden.
DAGNY (surprised). What meanest thou?
SIGURD. There may be danger in this faring to Gunnar's hall.
DAGNY. Danger? Thinkest thou that Gunnar----?
SIGURD. Nay, Gunnar is brave and true--yet better had it been that
I had sailed from the isle without crossing his threshold.
DAGNY. Thou makest me fear! Sigurd, what is amiss?
SIGURD. First answer me this: the golden ring that I gave thee,
where hast thou it?
DAGNY (showing it). Here, on my arm; thou badest me wear it.
SIGURD. Cast it to the bottom of the sea, so deep that none may
ever set eyes on it again; else may it be the bane of many men.
DAGNY. The ring!
SIGURD (in a low voice). That evening when we carried away thy
father's daughters--dost remember it?
DAGNY. Do I remember it!
SIGURD. It is of that I would speak.
DAGNY (in suspense). What is it? Say on!
SIGURD. Thou knowest there had been a feast; thou didst seek thy
chamber betimes; but Hiordis still sat among the men in the feast-hall.
The horn went busily round, and many a great vow was sworn. I swore
to bear away a fair maid with me from Iceland; Gunnar swore the same
as I, and passed the cup to Hiordis. She grasped it and stood up, and
vowed this vow, that no warrior should have her to wife, save he who
should go to her bower, slay the white bear that stood bound at the
door, and carry her away in his arms.
DAGNY. Yes, yes; all this I know!
SIGURD. All men deemed that it might not be, for the bear was the
fiercest of beasts; none but Hiordis might come near it, and it had
the strength of twenty men.
DAGNY. But Gunnar slew it, and by that deed won fame throughout
all lands.
SIGURD (in a low voice). He won the fame--but--_I_ did the deed!
DAGNY (with a cry). Thou!
SIGURD. When the men left the feast-hall, Gunnar prayed me to come
with him alone to our sleeping-place. Then said he: "Hiordis is dearer
to me than all women; without her I cannot live." I answered him:
"Then go to her bower; thou knowest the vow she hath sworn." But he
said: "Life is dear to him that loves; if I should assail the bear,
the end were doubtful, and I am loath to lose my life, for then should
I lose Hiordis too." Long did we talk, and the end was that Gunnar
made ready his ship, while I drew my sword, donned Gunnar's harness,
and went to the bower.
DAGNY (with pride and joy). And thou--thou didst slay the bear!
SIGURD. I slew him. In the bower it was dark as under a raven's
wing; Hiordis deemed it was Gunnar that sat by her--she was heated
with the mead--she drew a ring from her arm and gave it to me--it
is that thou wearest now.
DAGNY (hesitating). And thou didst pass the night with Hiordis in
her bower?
SIGURD. My sword lay drawn between us. (A short pause.) Ere the
dawn, I bore Hiordis to Gunnar's ship; she dreamed not or our wiles,
and he sailed away with her. Then went I to thy sleeping-place and
found thee there among thy women;--what followed, thou knowest; I
sailed from Iceland with a fair maid, as I had sworn, and from that
day hast thou stood faithfully at my side whithersoever I might wander.
DAGNY (much moved). My brave husband! And that great deed was
thine!--Oh, I should have known it; none but thou would have dared!
Hiordis, that proud and stately woman, couldst thou have won, yet
didst choose me! Now wouldst thou be tenfold dearer to me, wert
thou not already dearer than all the world.
SIGURD. Dagny, my sweet wife, now thou knowest all--that is needful.
I could not but warn thee; for that ring--Hiordis must never set eyes
on it! Wouldst thou do my will, then cast it from thee--into the
depths of the sea.
DAGNY. Nay, Sigurd, it is too dear to me; is it not thy gift? But
be thou at ease, I shall hide it from every eye, and never shall I
breathe a word of what thou hast told me.
(THOROLF comes up from the ships, with SIGURD'S men.)
THOROLF. All is ready for the feast.
DAGNY. Come then, Sigurd--my brave, my noble warrior!
SIGURD. Beware, Dagny--beware! It rests with thee now whether this
meeting shall end peacefully or in bloodshed. (Cheerfully to the
others.) Away then, to the feast in Gunnar's hall!
(Goes out with DAGNY to the right; the others follow.)