CHAPTER XVII: SIGRID THE HAUGHTY.
Now, although the peasants of Thrandheim yielded to King Olaf in thematter of their faith and the forms of their religious ceremonies, yetthey were none the less enraged against him on account of thedestruction of their beautiful temple and the slaying of Iron Skeggi.This man had been a great chief among them, much honoured for hisbodily strength, for his wealth, and for his spirit of independence.Some of his nearer kin had even looked upon the possibility of hisbeing a successor to the great Earl Hakon, and accordingly theyregarded Olaf Triggvison as an interloper, who had come to spoil alltheir hopes of worldly advancement. When their favourite was slain theytherefore cast about to find some pretext for either picking a quarrelwith King Olaf or of forcing him to make some atonement for the wrongthat he was supposed to have done them. And then they thought ofIronbeard's daughter, Gudrun, and of what a good thing it would be forthem if the king could be made to wed her. So on a certain day theytook Gudrun to where King Olaf was and made their proposals to him.
King Olaf looked at the girl and thought her very fair of feature. Herhair was black as charred wood, and her cheeks were rosy red; but therewas an evil glance in her dark eyes that mispleased him. Yet he sawthat it was good that there should be a queen in Norway, and urged byhis bishop, he allowed himself to be betrothed to Gudrun. It wasarranged that they should be wedded at the next yuletide.
In the midwinter King Olaf gave a great bridal feast to his friends inhis new banqueting hall at Nidaros. His bishops and priests were there,as also his chief captains and warmen, his scald and his saga men. Hismother, Queen Astrid, was at his right hand, while at the other side ofhim sat Gudrun. The fare was of the best, both food and drink, andthere was much merriment around the board, with singing of songs andplaying of harps, making of riddles and jests and telling of stories;and of all the company the king was the merriest and the lightsomest.No story was for him too long, nor song too boisterous, nor ale toostrong. As often as his drinking horn was emptied, it was filled againto the brim by his cup bearer, and always before he quaffed it he madeover it the sign of the cross.
Brightly gleamed the firelight upon helmet and shield and spear, butbrighter gleamed the gladness in the young king's eyes; for his realmwas now assured to him, his mission was fulfilled, and his glory wascomplete. It seemed to him that there would now be a lasting peace inthe land, with good fellowship among all his subjects, and no morebloodshed or quarrelling or discontent for ever after. He was to wedwith Gudrun upon the morrow, and this, he believed, was to be the crownof his happiness.
Now, as the night wore late, and the festivities flagged, the guestsrose from the board, and either departed to their several rooms or drewtheir cloaks about them and lay upon the side benches of the hall, andat length King Olaf was left alone at the table. Very soon he too fellasleep and lay back in his high backed chair, dreaming peaceful dreams.At his feet lay Einar Eindridson, a sturdy lad of sixteen years, whomOlaf had adopted as his favourite page and cup bearer, even as hehimself had been adopted by King Valdemar. Between the folds of thesilken curtains that overhung the open air spaces in the wall the lightof the full moon came in, falling upon King Olaf's handsome face andlong golden hair. The sapphires and diamonds studding the band of goldabout his head shone out like glittering stars in the pale light. Thecross of blood red rubies that hung from his neck chain rose and fellwith the regular heaving of his broad chest on which it rested.
All was dark in the hall, save for that one shaft of moonlight. All wassilent, save for the crackling of the dying embers on the hearth andthe heavy breathing of the men who lay asleep upon the benches andabout the rush strewn floor. But as King Olaf slept there came amovement at the far end of the hall, where the darkness was deepest.
Presently a woman's figure glided slowly and cautiously into the fullerlight. Her black shadow moved across the floor and crept nearer andnearer to the sleeping king, until at last it halted, shielding hisclosed eyes. She stood before him. Suddenly her right hand went to herbosom, and she drew forth a long glittering dagger. She stood over him,holding her hand aloft, ready to strike the fatal blow.
"Your hour is at hand, proud king!" she murmured; and her voice soundedthrough the hail like the soughing of the wintry wind among the pines."Your hour is at hand, Olaf Triggvison. Never shall my warm lips touchyours. Cold steel shall kiss you now."
She stepped back a pace, so that the moonlight, falling upon him, mightshow her where to strike. As she did so the hem of her long robe sweptacross the face of young Einar. The boy awoke and leapt to his feet. Hesaw a white arm upraised; he saw the gleaming dagger poised over hismaster's breast. Quick as an arrow's flight the blade flashed to itsmark. But quicker still was Einar. In that instant he had caught thewhite arm in his two strong hands, staying the fatal blow, so that thedagger's point but struck against the ruby cross and did no harm.
The scuffling of feet, the clatter of the dagger upon the floor, andthe woman's cry of alarmed surprise awoke the king. Starting from hisseat he caught his assailant and held her in the light of the moon. Hegazed into her pale and terror stricken face. It was the face of Gudrun.
Then Olaf besought Einar to tell him all that had happened, and Einarpicked up the dagger and gave it to his master, telling him how Gudrunhad attempted to slay him.
With the earliest peep of dawn Gudrun went forth upon her lonely way,and never again did she come under the same roof with King Olaf.
At this time there lived in Sweden a certain queen named Sigrid. Shewas the widow of King Erik the Victorious and the mother of King Olafthe Swede. She was very rich and possessed many great manors in Swedenand large landed estates among the islands of the Baltic. Many of thekings of Scandinavia sought to wed with her, wishing to share herwealth and add her dominions to their own. But Sigrid, who, by reasonof her great pride and the value that she set upon her own charms, wasnamed Sigrid the Haughty, would have none of them, although oftenenough she welcomed them as wooers and listened to their fine speechesand their flatteries.
One king there was who wooed her with such ardour that she resolved torid herself of him at all costs. His name was Harald Groenske (thefather of Saint Olaf), and, as he was of the kin of King HaraldFairhair, he considered himself in all respects her equal. Threeseveral times did he journey into Sweden to pay court to her. On thethird time he found that there was another wooer at her manor house,one King Vissavald of Gardarike. Both kings were well received, andlodged in a great hall with all their attendant company. The hall was avery old building, as was all its furniture, but there was no lack ofgood fare. So hospitable, indeed, was Queen Sigrid, that, ere the nightwas half spent, the two suitors and all their men were drunk, and theguards slept heavily.
In the middle of the night Queen Sigrid surrounded the hall with dryfaggots and set a lighted torch to them. The hall was quickly burned tothe ground, and all who were within it lost their lives.
"I will teach these little kings what risks they run in wooing me!"said the queen, as from her chamber window she watched the risingflames.
Now Queen Sigrid grew weary of waiting for the coming of a king whomshe could consider in all ways worthy of her. Her eyes were lustreless,and her hair was besprinkled with gray, and yet the right man did notoffer himself. But in good time she heard of King Olaf the Glorious,and of his great wealth and his prowess, and of how in his person hewas so tall and handsome, that men could only compare him with Balderthe Beautiful. And now she deemed that she had at last discovered onewhose magnificence would match with her own. So she caused messengersto fare across the frontier into Norway to sing her praises, so thatKing Olaf might learn how fair she was, and how well suited to reign byhis side. And it seemed that her messages had the effect that shewished.
On a certain summer day Queen Sigrid sat at her chamber window,overlooking a wide and beautiful river that lay between her own kingdomand Norway. From afar she saw a company of horsemen. They came nearerand nearer, and at last they halted at the gates
. Their leader enteredand the queen went down to meet him, guessing that he had come uponsome errand of great importance.
When he had greeted her, he told her that he had come all the way fromThrandheim, in Norway, with a message from King Olaf Triggvison, who,hearing of her great charms, now offered her his hand in marriage. Andas a token of his good faith the king had sent her a gift. The gift wasa large ring of gold--the same that Olaf had taken from the door of thetemple at Lade.
Full joyous was Queen Sigrid at this good news, and she took the heavyring and slipped it upon her arm, bidding the messengers take herhospitality for three days and then return to their master, with theword that she favoured his proposal, and agreed to meet him at hermanor of Konghelle in three weeks' time.
Now the queen admired that ring, deeming it a most noble gift. It wasmost beautifully wrought and interwoven with scrolls and circles sodelicate that all wondered how the hand of man could achieve suchperfection. Everyone praised it exceedingly, and among others to whomSigrid showed the ring were her own goldsmiths, two brothers. Thesehandled it with more care than others had done, and weighed it in theirhands as if they would estimate its value. The queen saw that thesmiths spoke in whispers one with the other; so she called them to herand asked if they thought that any man in Sweden could make such a ring.
At this the smiths smiled.
"Wherefore do you mock at the ring?" demanded Sigrid. "Tell me what youhave found?"
The smiths shrugged their shoulders.
"If indeed the truth must be spoken," said the elder of the two, "thenwe have found this, O queen, that there is false metal in the ring."
"Prove what you say!" cried the queen. And she let them break the ringasunder--and lo! it was shown to be made of copper and not of gold.
Then into Sigrid's eyes there flashed an angry light.
"If King Olaf of Norway can be so false in his gifts, he will befaithless also in his love!" she cried. And she snatched the pieces ofthe ring and flung them furiously away from her.
Now when the three weeks of his appointment had gone by Olaf Triggvisonjourneyed east to the trysting place at Konghelle, near the boundaryline between Norway and Sweden, and there Queen Sigrid met him. Amazedwas Sigrid to see the splendour of the man who offered her marriage.Never before had her eyes rested upon one so tall and handsome and sogloriously attired. Arrived now at his full manhood Olaf looked noblerand more majestic than ever in his life before. His cloak of finecrimson silk clung to his giant frame and showed the muscular mouldingof his limbs. His step was light and elastic, and, in spite of hisgreat strength, his movements were gentle and easy as those of a woman.His hands were very large and powerful, yet the touch of them was softand delicate; and his voice, which could be loud and full as a trumpetblast, could also be lowered to the musical sweetness of a purlingbrook. His forehead, where his helmet had shielded it from the heat ofthe sun and from the briny freshness of the sea air, was white andsmooth as polished marble; but the lower part of his face was of aclear, rich golden brown. He wore no beard, but the hair was leftunshaven on his upper lip and it streamed down on either side of hischin as fine as silk. When he smiled, his white and even teeth gleamedlike a row of pearls between the coral redness of his lips. QueenSigrid, as she beheld him for the first time, had no thought of thering that he had given her, nor of its falseness.
King Olaf, on his part, was more than a little disappointed with thelooks of the queen whose praises had been so often whispered in hisears. He had heard that she was young, yet he now saw that her hair wassprinkled with gray, that her eyes had lost the fire and fervour ofyouth, and that her brow was wrinkled with age. Younger and more comelywas his own mother Astrid than this much exalted queen. But, havinggiven his word that he meant to woo her and wed her, he had too muchhonour to draw back.
They sat together and talked over the matter of their wedding, and ofhow they would unite their domains and rule together over all theSwedes and Norsemen. And at last he took her hand and swore by the holyrood that he would be true to her.
Now Sigrid the Haughty was still a heathen, and she liked not to hearKing Olaf swear by Christian tokens. So she turned upon him with aquick glance of suspicion and contempt in her eyes.
"Such vows do not please me, King Olaf," she said. "It is told thatgreat Odin once swore on the ring. Will you swear by this ring to betrue?" And she rose and took up the ring he had sent as a gift, whichere this time her two smiths had repaired.
"O speak not of Odin to me!" cried the king. "He is dead as the stonesin the street. By no other symbol than the cross will I swear. Sorry amI to hear that you, Queen Sigrid, are still a believer in the old deadgods. Since this is so, however, there is little use in my being inthis place, for I have made up my mind that the woman who weds me shallbe a true Christian and not a worshipper of senseless idols hewn out oftrees and rocks. Abandon these things, take christening, and believe inthe one true God who made all things and knows all things, and then Iwill wed with you; but not else, O queen."
Queen Sigrid, astonished that any man dared to speak to her in thiswise, looked back at King Olaf in anger.
"Never shall I depart from the troth that I have always held," shecried. "And although you had twice the wealth that you have and wereyet more glorious than you are, yet never should I obey such a bidding.No, no, King Olaf. I keep true to my faith and to my vows; and can farevery well without you and your new religion. So go back to your baldheaded priests and to your singing of mass. I will have none of them!"
Then the king rose in wrath and his face was darkened with gloom. For amoment he forgot his manliness, and in his anger he struck her acrossher cheek with his glove.
"Why, then, should I care to wed with thee?" he cried; "thou witheredold heathen jade!"
With these taunting words on his lips he turned and strode from thechamber. But while the wooden stairway was still creaking under histread, Queen Sigrid called after him in bitterest anger:
"Go, then, O proud and stubborn king. Go where you will. But rememberthis, that the insult you have offered me and the blow you have struckme shall be your death!"
So Olaf departed, ere yet he had broken bread, and he went north intoViken, while Queen Sigrid the Haughty went east into Sweden.
King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark had by this time regained fullpossession of his kingdom, and was contemplating an invasion of Englandwhich should be more complete and decisive than the attempt which hehad made in company with the viking whom he had known as Ole theEsthonian. Sweyn had now, of course, discovered that this man Ole andKing Olaf of Norway were one and the same person, and he began to bevery jealous of the glory that was gathering about Olaf's name. A newcause for jealousy had now arisen.
Sweyn, it will be remembered, had married the Princess Gunnhild,daughter of Burislaf, King of the Wends. But in these days even nowtold of it befell that Queen Gunnhild was stricken with an illness anddied. King Sweyn, ever ambitious of winning great dominion, had a mindto take unto himself a new wife in the person of Queen Sigrid ofSweden. He was on the point of setting out to woo her when he heard bychance that King Olaf Triggvison was already bent upon a similarjourney. Envy and jealousy and bitter hatred welled up in Sweyn'sbreast against his rival, and he swore by Thor's hammer that sooner orlater he would lower King Olaf to the dust.
But in good time King Sweyn heard of the quarrel that had befallenbetween Queen Sigrid and her young Norwegian suitor. So he at oncefared north into Sweden to essay his own fortune with the haughtyqueen. He gained a ready favour with Sigrid by speaking all manner offalse and malicious scandal against the man whom she had so latelyrejected. Sigrid probably saw that by marrying the King of Denmark shemight the more easily accomplish her vengeance upon Olaf Triggvison.She therefore accepted Forkbeard's proposals, and they were wedded inaccordance with the rites and customs of their pagan faith.
Earl Erik, the son of the late Earl Hakon, was at this time the guestand friend of Sigrid's son, Olaf the Swede King; and these three--Ki
ngSweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, King Olaf of Sweden, and Earl Erik ofLade--had each a private cause of enmity against Olaf Triggvison. Itwas they who, two years afterwards, united their forces in the greatsea fight in which Olaf the Glorious lost his life.