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Chapter XII
Chapter XII
Of the Shards of the Sword Gram, and how Hjordis went to King Alf
Now King Lyngi made for the king`s abode, and was minded to take the
king`s daughter there, but failed herein, for there he found neither wife nor
wealth: so he fared through all the realm, and gave his men rule thereover,
and now deemed that he had slain all the kin of the Volsungs, and that he need
dread them no more from henceforth.
Now Hjordis went amidst the slain that night of the battle, and came
whereas lay King Sigmund, and asked if he might be healed; but he answered -
"Many a man lives after hope has grown little; but my good - hap has
departed from me, nor will I suffer myself to be healed, nor wills Odin that I
should ever draw sword again, since this my sword and his is broken; lo now, I
have waged war while it was his will."
"Naught ill would I deem matters," said she, "if thou mightest be healed
and avenge my father."
The king said, "That is fated for another man; behold now, thou art great
with a man - child; nourish him well and with good heed, and the child shall
be the noblest and most famed of all our kin: and keep well withal the shards
of the sword: thereof shall a goodly sword be made, and it shall be called
Gram, and our son shall bear it, and shall work many a great work therewith,
even such as eld shall never minish; for his name shall abide and flourish as
long as the world shall endure: and let this be enow for thee. But now I grow
weary with my wounds, and I will go see our kin that have gone before me."
So Hjordis sat over him till he died at the day - dawning; and then she
looked, and behold, there came many ships sailing to the land: then she spake
to the handmaid -
"Let us now change raiment, and be thou called by my name, and say that
thou art the king`s daughter."
[See Return Of The Warriors: The women came out to greet their victorious
vikings.]
And thus they did; but now the vikings behold the great slaughter of men
there, and see where two women fare away thence into the wood; and they deem
that some great tidings must have befallen, and they leaped ashore from out
their ships. Now the captain of these folks was Alf, son of Hjalprek, king of
Denmark, who was sailing with his power along the land. So they came into the
field among the slain, and saw how many men lay dead there; then the king bade
go seek for the women and bring them thither, and they did so. He asked them
what women they were; and, little as the thing seems like to be, the bondmaid
answered for the twain, telling of the fall of King Sigmund and King Eylimi,
and many another great man, and who they were withal who had wrought the deed.
Then the king asks if they wotted where the wealth of the king was bestowed;
and then says the bondmaid -
"It may well be deemed that we know full surely thereof."
And therewith she guides them to the place where the treasure lay; and
there they found exceeding great wealth; so that men deem they have never seen
so many things of price heaped up together in one place. All this they bore to
the ships of King Alf, and Hjordis and the bondmaid went with them. Therewith
these sail away to their own realm, and talk how that surely on that field had
fallen the most renowed of kings.
So the king sits by the tiller, but the women abide in the forecastle:
but talk he had with the women and held their counsels of much account.
In such wise the king came home to his realm with great wealth, and he
himself was a man exceeding goodly to look on. But when he had been but a
little while at home, the queen, his mother, asked him why the fairest of the
two women had the fewer rings and the less worthy attire.
"I deem," she said, "that she whom ye have held of least account is the
noblest of the twain."
He answered: "I too have misdoubted me, that she is little like a
bondwoman, and when we first met, in seemly wise she greated noble men. Lo
now, we will make a trial of the thing."
So on a time as men sat at the drink, the king sat down to talk with the
women, and said -
"In what wise do ye note the wearing of the hours, whenas night grows
old, if ye may not see the lights of heaven?"
Then says the bondwoman, "This sign have I, that whenas in my youth I was
wont to drink much in the dawn, so now when I no longer use that manner, I am
yet wont to wake up at that very same tide, and by that token do I know
thereof."
Then the king laughed and said, "Ill manners for a king`s daughter!" And
therewith he turned to Hjordis, and asked her even the same question; but she
answered -
"My father erst gave me a little gold ring of such nature, that it
groweth cold on my finger in the day-dawning; and that is the sign that I
have to know thereof."
The king answered: "Enow of gold there, where a very bondmaid bore it!
but come now, thou hast been long enow hid from me; yet if thou hadst told me
all from the beginning, I would have done to thee as though we had both been
one king`s children: but better than thy deeds will I deal with thee, for thou
shalt be my wife, and due jointure will I pay thee whenas thou hast borne me a
child."
She spake therewith and told out the whole truth about herself: so there
was she held in great honour, and deemed the worthiest of women.
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