Betrothal of Frithiof and Ingeborg
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
The warriors of the nation now assembled in solemn Thing to choose a successor to the throne. Frithiof had won the people’s enthusiastic admiration, and they would fain have elected him king; but he raised Sigurd Ring’s little son high on his shield when he heard the shout which acclaimed his name, and presented the boy to the assembly as their future king, publicly swearing to uphold him until he was of age to defend the realm. The lad, weary of his cramped position, boldly sprang to the ground as soon as Frithiof’s speech was ended, and alighted upon his feet. This act of agile daring in one so young appealed to the rude Northmen, and a loud shout arose, “We choose thee, shield-borne child!”
“But thron’d king-like, the lad sat proud
On shield-floor high;
So the eaglet glad, from rock-hung cloud,
The Sun will eye!
At length this place his young blood found
Too dull to keep;
And, with one spring, he gains the ground—
A royal leap!”
Tegnér, Frithiof Saga (G. Stephens’s tr.).
According to some accounts, Frithiof now made war against Ingeborg’s brothers, and after conquering them, allowed them to retain their kingdom on condition that they paid him a yearly tribute. Then he and Ingeborg remained in Ringric until the young king was able to assume the government, when they repaired to Hordaland, a kingdom Frithiof had obtained by conquest, and which he left to his sons Gungthiof and Hunthiof.
Bishop Tegnér’s conclusion, however, differs very considerably, and if it appears less true to the rude temper of the rugged days of the sea-rovers, its superior spiritual qualities make it more attractive. According to Tegnér’s poem, Frithiof was urged by the people of Sigurd Ring to espouse Ingeborg and remain amongst them as guardian of the realm. But he answered that this might not be, since the wrath of Balder still burned against him, and none else could bestow his cherished bride. He told the people that he would fare over the seas and seek forgiveness of the god, and soon after, his farewells were spoken, and once more his vessel was speeding before the wind.
Frithiof’s first visit was paid to his father’s burial mound, where, plunged in melancholy at the desolation around, he poured out his soul to the outraged god. He reminded him that it was the custom of the Northmen to exact blood-fines for kinsmen slain, and surely the blessed gods would not be less forgiving than the earth-born. Passionately he adjured Balder to show him how he could make reparation for his unpremeditated fault, and suddenly, an answer was vouchsafed, and Frithiof beheld in the clouds a vision of a new temple.
“Then sudden, o’er the western waters pendent,
An Image comes, with gold and flames resplendent,
O’er Balder’s grove it hovers, night’s clouds under,
Like gold crown resting on a bed of green.
At last to a temple settling, firm ’tis grounded—
Where Balder stood, another temple’s founded.”
Tegnér, Frithiof Saga (G. Stephens’s tr.).
The hero immediately understood that the gods had thus indicated a means of atonement, and he grudged neither wealth nor pains until a glorious temple and grove, which far exceeded the splendour of the old shrine, rose out of the ruins.
“Finish’d great Balder’s Temple stood!
Round it no palisade of wood
Ran now as erst;
A railing stronger, fairer than the first,
And all of hammer’d iron—each bar
Gold-tipp’d and regular—
Walls Balder’s sacred House. Like some long line
Of steel-clad champions, whose bright war-spears shine
And golden helms afar—so stood
This glitt’ring guard within the holy wood!
“Of granite blocks enormous, join’d with curious care
And daring art, the massy pile was built; and there
(A giant-work intended
To last till time was ended,)
It rose like Upsal’s temple, where the north
Saw Valhall’s halls fair imag’d here on earth.
“Proud stood it there on mountain-steep, its lofty brow
Reflected calmly on the sea’s bright-flowing wave.
But round about, some girdle like of beauteous flow’rs,