| |
| QUEEN SIGRID the Haughty sat proud and aloft | |
| In her chamber, that looked over meadow and croft. | |
| Heart’s dearest, | |
| Why dost thou sorrow so? | |
| |
| The floor tassels of fir was besprent, | 5 |
| Filling the room with their fragrant scent. | |
| |
| She heard the birds sing, she saw the sun shine, | |
| The air of summer was sweeter than wine. | |
| |
| Like a sword without scabbard the bright river lay | |
| Between her own kingdom and Norroway. | 10 |
| |
| But Olaf the King had sued for her hand, | |
| The sword would be sheathed, the river be spanned. | |
| |
| Her maidens were seated around her knee, | |
| Working bright figures in tapestry. | |
| |
| And one was singing the ancient rune | 15 |
| Of Brynhilda’s love and the wrath of Gudrun. | |
| |
| And through it, and round it, and over it all | |
| Sounded incessant the waterfall. | |
| |
| The Queen in her hand held a ring of gold, | |
| From the door of Ladé’s Temple old. | 20 |
| |
| King Olaf had sent her this wedding gift, | |
| But her thoughts as arrows were keen and swift. | |
| |
| She had given the ring to her goldsmiths twain, | |
| Who smiled, as they handed it back again. | |
| |
| And Sigrid the Queen, in her haughty way, | 25 |
| Said, “Why do you smile, my goldsmiths, say?” | |
| |
| And they answered: “O Queen! if the truth must be told, | |
| The ring is of copper, and not of gold!” | |
| |
| The lightning flashed o’er her forehead and cheek, | |
| She only murmured, she did not speak: | 30 |
| |
| “If in his gifts he can faithless be, | |
| There will be no gold in his love to me.” | |
| |
| A footstep was heard on the outer stair, | |
| And in strode King Olaf with royal air. | |
| |
| He kissed the Queen’s hand, and he whispered of love, | 35 |
| And swore to be true as the stars are above. | |
| |
| But she smiled with contempt as she answered: “O King, | |
| Will you swear it, as Odin once swore, on the ring?” | |
| |
| And the King: “Oh speak not of Odin to me, | |
| The wife of King Olaf a Christian must be.” | 40 |
| |
| Looking straight at the King, with her level brows, | |
| She said, “I keep true to my faith and my vows.” | |
| |
| Then the face of King Olaf was darkened with gloom, | |
| He rose in his anger and strode through the room. | |
| |
| “Why, then, should I care to have thee?” he said,— | 45 |
| “A faded old woman, a heathenish jade!” | |
| |
| His zeal was stronger than fear or love, | |
| And he struck the Queen in the face with his glove. | |
| |
| Then forth from the chamber in anger he fled, | |
| And the wooden stairway shook with his tread. | 50 |
| |
| Queen Sigrid the Haughty said under her breath, | |
| “This insult, King Olaf, shall be thy death!” | |
| Heart’s dearest, | |
| Why dost thou sorrow so? | |
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