A COURTIER OF THE KING
A better burden
No man bears on the way
Than much good sense;
That is thought better than riches
In a strange place:
Such is the recourse of the indigent.
Ha'vama'l
The next afternoon when Helga came out to water the linen, she found
Alwin waiting for her, on the pretext of hunting in the long grass for a
lost arrow-head.
He greeted her gayly: "I will offer you three chances to guess my news."
She paused, with her twig broom raised and dripping, and scanned him
eagerly. "Is it anything about the ship that came yesterday? I heard
among the women that it is the war-vessel of Eric's kinsman, Thorkel
Farserk, just come back from ravaging the Irish coast. Is his wife going
to make a feast to welcome him?"
"I will not deny that you have proved a good guesser. And, by Dunstan!
he deserves to be received well. Never saw I such a sight as that
landing! There were more slaves than there were men in the crew. Not a
man but had a bloody bandage on his head or his body, and the arms and
legs of some were lacking. Two of the crew were not there at all, and
their sweethearts had come down to the shore to meet them; and when they
found that they had been slain, they tore their hair and tried to kill
themselves with knives."
"That was foolish of them," said Helga, calmly. "Better was it that
their lovers should die in good repute than live in the shame of
cowardice. But tell me the news. Has it happened, as I supposed, that
there is going to be a feast, and Leif is asked to it?"
"Messengers came this morning from Farserk's wife. But you dare not
guess the rest."
"I dare throw this pan of water over you if you do not tell me
instantly."
"It would not matter much if you did. I am to have new clothes,--of
black velvet with bands of ermine. But hearken now: Leif has accepted
the invitation! Even Valbrand thinks this a great wonder. At this moment
Sigurd is selecting the chief's richest dress, and Rolf is getting out
the most costly of the gifts that were brought from Norway."
Helga set down her pan for the express purpose of clapping her hands.
"Now I am well content; for at last they will see him in all his glory,
and know what manner of man they have treated with disrespect. I have
hoped with all my heart for such a thing as this, but by no means did I
think he cared enough to do it."
Alwin shook his head hastily. "You must not get it into your mind that
it is to improve his own honor that he does it now. I know that for
certain. It is to give his mission a good appearance."
Helga picked up her pan with a sigh. "When he begins to preach that to
them, he will knock it all over again."
Alwin considered it his duty to frown at this; but it must be confessed
that something very similar was in his own thoughts as he followed his
lord into Thorkel Farserk's feasting-hall that night. Whatever his
religion, the guardsman's rank and his gallant appearance and fine
manners compelled admiration and respect. It could not but seem a pity
to his admirers that soon, with one word, he would be forced to undo it
all.
"It is harder than the martyrdom of the saints," Alwin murmured
bitterly. Then his eye fell upon the silver crucifix, shining pure and
bright on Leif's breast, and he realized the unworthiness of his
thoughts, and resigned himself with a sigh.
But he found that even yet Leif's purposes were beyond him. Never, by so
much as a word, did the guardsman refer to the subject of the new
religion,--though again and again his skilful tongue won for him the
attention of all at the table. He spoke of battles and of feasts, and of
the grandeur of the Northmen. With the old men he discussed Norwegian
politics; with the young ones he talked of the famous champions of King
Olaf's guard. To the women who wished to know concerning the King's
house, and the Queen, he answered with the utmost patience. He described
everything, from weddings to burials, with the skill of a minstrel and
the weight of an authority, and always with the tact of a courtier.
Gradually whispers of praise circled around the board, whispers that
fell like sweetest music on the jealous ears of Leif's followers.
Thorhild leaned back from her food and watched him with open pride,--and
though Eric kept his face still turned away, he set his ear forward so
that he should hear everything.
Alwin was almost beside himself with nervousness. "If the crash does not
come soon, I shall go out of my wits," he whispered to Rolf.
The Wrestler turned upon him a face of such unusual excitement that he
was amazed. "Do you not see?" he whispered. "There will not be any
crash. I have just begun to understand. It was this he meant when he
spoke to you of gaining their friend-ship that they might hear him
willingly. Do you not see?"
Alwin's relief was so great that at first he dared not believe it. When
the truth of it dawned upon him, he was overcome with wonder and
admiration. In those days, nine men out of every ten could draw their
swords and rave and die for their principles; it was only the tenth man
that was strong enough to keep his hand off his weapon, or control his
tongue and live to serve his cause.
"Luck obeys his will as the helm his hand. I shall never worry over him
again," he said contentedly, as with the others he waited in the
courtyard for Leif to come out of the feasting-hall.
Sigurd laughed gayly. "Do you know what I just overheard in the crowd?
Some of Thorkel's men were praising Leif, and one of Eric's churls
thought it worth while to boast to them how he had known the Lucky One
when he was a child. Certainly the tide is beginning to turn."
"Leif Ericsson is an ingenious man," Rolf said, with unusual decision.
"I take shame upon me that ever I doubted his wisdom."
Egil uttered the kind of sullen grunt with which he always prefaced a
disagreeable remark. "Ugh! I do not agree with you. I think his behavior
was weak-kneed. Knowing their hatred against the word Christian, all the
more would I have dinged it into their ears; that they might not think
they had got the better of me. Now they believe he has become ashamed of
his faith and deserted it."
The three broke in upon him in an angry chorus. Alwin said sternly: "You
speak in a thoughtless way, Egil Olafsson. You forget that he still
wears the crucifix upon his breast. How can they believe that he has
forgotten his faith or given it up, when they cannot look at him without
seeing also the sign of his God?"
Egil turned away, silenced.
This feast of Thorkel Farserk was the first of a long line of such
events. With the approach of autumn, ships became a common sight in the
fiords-Those chieftains who had left Greenland in summer to spear whales
in the northern ocean, or make trading voyages to eastern countries, or
cruise over the high seas on pirates' missions, now came sailing home
again with increased wealth and news-bags bursting. For every traveller,
wife or kinsman made a feast of welcome--a bountiful entertainment that
sometimes lasted three days, with tables always spread, and horns always
filled, and games and horse-races, and gifts for everyone. At each of
these celebrations, Leif appeared in all his splendor; and his tactful
tongue held for him the place of honor. His popularity grew apace. The
only thing that could keep step with it was the exultation of his
followers.