The Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Read Online

King Olaf’s Return

AND King Olaf heard the cry,
Saw the red light in the sky,
  Laid his hand upon his sword,
As he leaned upon the railing,
And his ships went sailing, sailing    5
  Northward into Drontheim fiord.

There he stood as one who dreamed;
And the red light glanced and gleamed
  On the armor that he wore;
And he shouted, as the rifted    10
Streamers o’er him shook and shifted,
  “I accept thy challenge, Thor!”

To avenge his father slain,
And reconquer realm and reign,
  Came the youthful Olaf home,    15
Through the midnight sailing, sailing,
Listening to the wild wind’s wailing,
  And the dashing of the foam.

To his thoughts the sacred name
Of his mother Astrid came,    20
  And the tale she oft had told
Of her flight by secret passes
Through the mountains and morasses,
  To the home of Hakon old.

Then strange memories crowded back    25
Of Queen Gunhild’s wrath and wrack,
  And a hurried flight by sea;
Of grim Vikings, and the rapture
Of the sea-fight, and the capture,
  And the life of slavery.    30

How a stranger watched his face
In the Esthonian market-place,
  Scanned his features one by one,
Saying, “We should know each other;
I am Sigurd, Astrid’s brother,    35
  Thou art Olaf, Astrid’s son!”

Then as Queen Allogia’s page,
Old in honors, young in age,
  Chief of all her men-at-arms;
Till vague whispers, and mysterious,    40
Reached King Valdemar, the imperious,
  Filling him with strange alarms.

Then his cruisings o’er the seas,
Westward to the Hebrides
  And to Scilly’s rocky shore;    45
And the hermit’s cavern dismal,
Christ’s great name and rites baptismal
  In the ocean’s rush and roar.

All these thoughts of love and strife
Glimmered through his lurid life,    50
  As the stars’ intenser light
Through the red flames o’er him trailing,
As his ships went sailing, sailing
  Northward in the summer night.

Trained for either camp or court,    55
Skilful in each manly sport,
  Young and beautiful and tall;
Art of warfare, craft of chases,
Swimming, skating, snow-shoe races,
  Excellent alike in all.    60

When at sea, with all his rowers,
He along the bending oars
  Outside of his ship could run.
He the Smalsor Horn ascended,
And his shining shield suspended    65
  On its summit, like a sun.

On the ship-rails he could stand,
Wield his sword with either hand,
  And at once two javelins throw;
At all feasts where ale was strongest    70
Sat the merry monarch longest,
  First to come and last to go.

Norway never yet had seen
One so beautiful of mien,
  One so royal in attire,    75
When in arms completely furnished,
Harness gold-inlaid and burnished,
  Mantle like a flame of fire.

Thus came Olaf to his own,
When upon the night-wind blown    80
  Passed that cry along the shore;
And he answered, while the rifted
Streamers o’er him shook and shifted,
  “I accept thy challenge, Thor!”

III.

Thora of Rimol

“THORA of Rimol! hide me! hide me!
Danger and shame and death betide me!
For Olaf the King is hunting me down
Through field and forest, through thorp and town!”
    Thus cried Jarl Hakon    5
    To Thora, the fairest of women.

“Hakon Jarl! for the love I bear thee
Neither shall shame nor death come near thee!
But the hiding-place wherein thou must lie
Is the cave underneath the swine in the sty.”    10
    Thus to Jarl Hakon
    Said Thora, the fairest of women.

So Hakon Jarl and his base thrall Karker
Crouched in the cave, than a dungeon darker,
As Olaf came riding, with men in mail,    15
Through the forest roads into Orkadale,
    Demanding Jarl Hakon
    Of Thora, the fairest of women.

“Rich and honored shall be whoever
The head of Hakon Jarl shall dissever!”    20
Hakon heard him, and Karker the slave,
Through the breathing-holes of the darksome cave.
    Alone in her chamber
    Wept Thora, the fairest of women.

Said Karker, the crafty, “I will not slay thee!    25
For all the king’s gold I will never betray thee!”
“Then why dost thou turn so pale, O churl,
And then again black as the earth?” said the Earl.
    More pale and more faithful
    Was Thora, the fairest of women.    30

From a dream in the night the thrall started, saying,
“Round my neck a gold ring King Olaf was laying!”
And Hakon answered, “Beware of the king!
He will lay round thy neck a blood-red ring.”
    At the ring on her finger    35
    Gazed Thora, the fairest of women.

At daybreak slept Hakon, with sorrows encumbered,
But screamed and drew up his feet as he slumbered;
The thrall in the darkness plunged with his knife,
And the Earl awakened no more in this life.    40
    But wakeful and weeping
    Sat Thora, the fairest of women.

At Nidarholm the priests are all singing,
Two ghastly heads on the gibbet are swinging;
One is Jarl Hakon’s and one is his thrall’s,    45
And the people are shouting from windows and walls;
    While alone in her chamber
    Swoons Thora, the fairest of women.

IV.

Queen Sigrid the Haughty

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?

V.

The Skerry of Shrieks

NOW from all King Olaf’s farms
        His men-at-arms
Gathered on the Eve of Easter;
To his house at Angvalds-ness
        Fast they press,    5
Drinking with the royal feaster.

Loudly through the wide-flung door
        Came the roar
Of the sea upon the Skerry;
And its thunder loud and near    10
        Reached the ear,
Mingling with their voices merry.

“Hark!” said Olaf to his Scald,
        Halfred the Bald,
“Listen to that song, and learn it!    15
Half my kingdom would I give,
        As I live,
If by such songs you would earn it!

“For of all the runes and rhymes
        Of all times,    20
Best I like the ocean’s dirges,
When the old harper heaves and rocks,
        His hoary locks
Flowing and flashing in the surges!”

Halfred answered: “I am called    25
        The Unappalled!
Nothing hinders me or daunts me.
Hearken to me, then, O King,
        While I sing
The great Ocean Song that haunts me.”    30

“I will hear your song sublime
        Some other time,”
Says the drowsy monarch, yawning,
And retires; each laughing guest
        Applauds the jest;    35
Then they sleep till day is dawning.

Pacing up and down the yard,
        King Olaf’s guard
Saw the sea-mist slowly creeping
O’er the sands, and up the hill,    40
        Gathering still
Round the house where they were sleeping.

It was not the fog he saw,
        Nor misty flaw,
That above the landscape brooded;    45
It was Eyvind Kallda’s crew
        Of warlocks blue
With their caps of darkness hooded!

Round and round the house they go,
        Weaving slow    50
Magic circles to encumber
And imprison in their ring
        Olaf the King,
As he helpless lies in slumber.

Then athwart the vapors dun    55
        The Easter sun
Streamed with one broad track of splendor!
In their real forms appeared
        The warlocks weird,
Awful as the Witch of Endor.    60

Blinded by the light that glared,
        They groped and stared,
Round about with steps unsteady;
From his window Olaf gazed,
        And, amazed,    65
“Who are these strange people?” said he,

“Eyvind Kallda and his men!”
        Answered then
From the yard a sturdy farmer;
While the men-at-arms apace    70
        Filled the place,
Busily buckling on their armor.

From the gates they sallied forth,
        South and north,
Scoured the island coast around them,    75
Seizing all the warlock band,
        Foot and hand
On the Skerry’s rocks they bound them.

And at eve the king again
        Called his train,    80
And, with all the candles burning,
Silent sat and heard once more
        The sullen roar
Of the ocean tides returning.

Shrieks and cries of wild despair    85
        Filled the air,
Growing fainter as they listened;
Then the bursting surge alone
        Sounded on; —
Thus the sorcerers were christened!    90

“Sing, O Scald, your song sublime,
        Your ocean-rhyme,”
Cried King Olaf: “it will cheer me!”
Said the Scald, with pallid cheeks,
        “The Skerry of Shrieks    95
Sings too loud for you to hear me!”

VI.

The Wraith of Odin

THE GUESTS were loud, the ale was strong,
King Olaf feasted late and long;
The hoary Scalds together sang;
O’erhead the smoky rafters rang.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    5

The door swung wide, with creak and din
A blast of cold night-air came in,
And on the threshold shivering stood
A one-eyed guest, with cloak and hood.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    10

The King exclaimed, “O graybeard pale!
Come warm thee with this cup of ale.”
The foaming draught the old man quaffed,
The noisy guests looked on and laughed.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    15

Then spake the King: “Be not afraid:
Sit here by me.” The guest obeyed,
And, seated at the table, told
Tales of the sea, and Sagas old.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    20

And ever, when the tale was o’er,
The King demanded yet one more;
Till Sigard the Bishop smiling said,
“‘T is late, O King, and time for bed.”
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    25

The King retired; the stranger guest
Followed and entered with the rest;
The lights were out, the pages gone,
But still the garrulous guest spake on.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    30

As one who from a volume reads,
He spake of heroes and their deeds,
Of lands and cities he had seen,
And stormy gulfs that tossed between.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    35

Then from his lips in music rolled
The Havamal of Odin old,
With sounds mysterious as the roar
Of billows on a distant shore.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    40

“Do we not learn from runes and rhymes
Made by the gods in elder times,
And do not still the great Scalds teach
That silence better is than speech?”
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    45

Smiling at this, the King replied,
“Thy lore is by thy tongue belied;
For never was I so enthralled
Either by Saga-man or Scald.”
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    50

The Bishop said, “Late hours we keep!
Night wanes, O King! ‘t is time for sleep!”
Then slept the King, and when he woke
The guest was gone, the morning broke.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    55

They found the doors securely barred,
They found the watch-dog in the yard,
There was no footprint in the grass,
And none had seen the stranger pass.
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    60

King Olaf crossed himself and said:
“I know that Odin the Great is dead;
Sure is the triumph of our Faith,
The one-eyed stranger was his wraith.”
    Dead rides Sir Morten of Fogelsang.    65

VII.

Iron-Beard

  OLAF the King, one summer morn,
  Blew a blast on his bugle-horn,
Sending his signal through the land of Drontheim.

  And to the Hus-Ting held at Mere
  Gathered the farmers far and near,    5
With their war weapons ready to confront him.

  Ploughing under the morning star,
  Old Iron-Beard in Yriar
Heard the summons, chuckling with a low laugh.

  He wiped the sweat-drops from his brow,    10
  Unharnessed his horses from the plough,
And clattering came on horseback to King Olaf.

  He was the churliest of the churls;
  Little he cared for king or earls;
Bitter as home-brewed ale were his foaming passions.    15

  Hodden-gray was the garb he wore,
  And by the Hammer of Thor he swore;
He hated the narrow town, and all its fashions.

  But he loved the freedom of his farm,
  His ale at night, by the fireside warm,    20
Gudrun his daughter, with her flaxen tresses.

  He loved his horses and his herds,
  The smell of the earth, and the song of birds,
His well-filled barns, his brook with its watercresses.

  Huge and cumbersome was his frame;    25
  His beard, from which he took his name,
Frosty and fierce, like that of Hymer the Giant.

  So at the Hus-Ting he appeared,
  The farmer of Yriar, Iron-Beard,
On horseback, in an attitude defiant.    30

  And to King Olaf he cried aloud,
  Out of the middle of the crowd,
That tossed about him like a stormy ocean:

  “Such sacrifices shalt thou bring
  To Odin and to Thor, O King,    35
As other kings have done in their devotion!”

  King Olaf answered: “I command
  This land to be a Christian land;
Here is my Bishop who the folk baptizes!

  “But if you ask me to restore    40
  Your sacrifices, stained with gore,
Then will I offer human sacrifices!

  “Not slaves and peasants shall they be,
  But men of note and high degree,
Such men as Orm of Lyra and Kar of Gryting!”    45

  Then to their Temple strode he in,
  And loud behind him heard the din
Of his men-at-arms and the peasants fiercely fighting.

  There in the Temple, carved in wood,
  The image of great Odin stood,    50
And other gods, with Thor supreme among them.

  King Olaf smote them with the blade
  Of his huge war-axe, gold inlaid,
And downward shattered to the pavement flung them.

  At the same moment rose without,    55
  From the contending crowd, a shout,
A mingled sound of triumph and of wailing.

  And there upon the trampled plain
  The farmer Iron-Beard lay slain,
Midway between the assailed and the assailing.    60

  King Olaf from the doorway spoke:
  “Choose ye between two things, my folk,
To be baptized or given up to slaughter!”

  And seeing their leader stark and dead,
  The people with a murmur said,    65
“O King, baptize us with thy holy water.”

  So all the Drontheim land became
  A Christian land in name and fame,
In the old gods no more believing and trusting.

  And as a blood-atonement, soon    70
  King Olaf wed the fair Gudrun;
And thus in peace ended the Drontheim Hus-Ting!

VIII.

Gudrun

ON King Olaf’s bridal night
Shines the moon with tender light,
And across the chamber streams
    Its tide of dreams.

At the fatal midnight hour,    5
When all evil things have power,
In the glimmer of the moon
    Stands Gudrun.

Close against her heaving breast
Something in her hand is pressed;    10
Like an icicle, its sheen
    Is cold and keen.

On the cairn are fixed her eyes
Where her murdered father lies,
And a voice remote and drear    15
    She seems to hear.

What a bridal night is this!
Cold will be the dagger’s kiss;
Laden with the chill of death
    Is its breath.    20

Like the drifting snow she sweeps
To the couch where Olaf sleeps;
Suddenly he wakes and stirs,
    His eyes meet hers.

“What is that,” King Olaf said,    25
“Gleams so bright above my head?
Wherefore standest thou so white
    In pale moonlight?”

“‘T is the bodkin that I wear
When at night I bind my hair;    30
It woke me falling on the floor;
    ‘T is nothing more.”

“Forests have ears, and fields have eyes;
Often treachery lurking lies
Underneath the fairest hair!    35
    Gudrun beware!”

Ere the earliest peep of morn
Blew King Olaf’s bugle-horn;
And forever sundered ride
    Bridegroom and bride!    40

IX.

Thangbrand the Priest

SHORT of stature, large of limb,
  Burly face and russet beard,
All the women stared at him,
  When in Iceland he appeared.
        “Look!” they said,    5
        With nodding head,
“There goes Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.”

All the prayers he knew by rote,
  He could preach like Chrysostome,
From the Fathers he could quote,    10
  He had even been at Rome.
        A learned clerk,
        A man of mark,
Was this Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

He was quarrelsome and loud,    15
  And impatient of control,
Boisterous in the market crowd,
  Boisterous at the wassail-bowl,
        Everywhere
        Would drink and swear,    20
Swaggering Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

In his house this malcontent
  Could the King no longer bear,
So to Iceland he was sent
  To convert the heathen there,    25
        And away
        One summer day
Sailed this Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

There in Iceland, o’er their books
  Pored the people day and night,    30
But he did not like their looks,
  Nor the songs they used to write.
        “All this rhyme
        Is waste of time!”
Grumbled Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.    35

To the alehouse, where he sat,
  Came the Scalds and Saga-men;
Is it to be wondered at
  That they quarrelled now and then,
        When o’er his beer    40
        Began to leer
Drunken Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest?

All the folk in Altafiord
  Boasted of their island grand;
Saying in a single word,    45
  “Iceland is the finest land
        That the sun
        Doth shine upon!”
Loud laughed Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

And he answered: “What’s the use    50
  Of this bragging up and down,
When three women and one goose
  Make a market in your town!”
        Every Scald
        Satires drawled    55
On poor Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

Something worse they did than that;
  And what vexed him most of all
Was a figure in shovel hat,
  Drawn in charcoal on the wall;    60
        With words that go
        Sprawling below,
“This is Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.”

Hardly knowing what he did,
  Then he smote them might and main,    65
Thorvald Veile and Veterlid
  Lay there in the alehouse slain.
        “To-day we are gold,
        To-morrow mould!”
Muttered Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.    70

Much in fear of axe and rope,
  Back to Norway sailed he then.
“O King Olaf! little hope
  Is there of these Iceland men!”
        Meekly said,    75
        With bending head,
Pious Thangbrand, Olaf’s Priest.

X.

Raud the Strong

“ALL the old gods are dead,
All the wild warlocks fled;
But the White Christ lives and reigns,
And throughout my wide domains
His Gospel shall be spread!”    5
    On the Evangelists
    Thus swore King Olaf.

But still in dreams of the night
Beheld he the crimson light,
And heard the voice that defied    10
Him who was crucified,
And challenged him to the fight.
    To Sigurd the Bishop
    King Olaf confessed it.

And Sigurd the Bishop said,    15
“The old gods are not dead,
For the great Thor still reigns,
And among the Jarls and Thanes
The old witchcraft still is spread.”
    Thus to King Olaf    20
    Said Sigurd the Bishop.

“Far north in the Salten Fiord,
By rapine, fire, and sword,
Lives the Viking, Raud the Strong;
All the Godoe Isles belong    25
To him and his heathen horde.”
    Thus went on speaking
    Sigurd the Bishop.

“A warlock, a wizard is he,
And the lord of the wind and the sea;    30
And whichever way he sails,
He has ever favoring gales,
By his craft in sorcery.”
    Here the sign of the cross
    Made devoutly King Olaf.    35

“With rites that we both abhor,
He worships Odin and Thor;
So it cannot yet be said,
That all the old gods are dead,
And the warlocks are no more,”    40
    Flushing with anger
    Said Sigurd the Bishop.

Then King Olaf cried aloud:
“I will talk with this mighty Raud,
And along the Salten Fiord    45
Preach the Gospel with my sword,
Or be brought back in my shroud!”
    So northward from Drontheim
    Sailed King Olaf!

XI.

Bishop Sigurd of Salten Fiord

LOUD the angry wind was wailing
As King Olaf’s ships came sailing
Northward out of Drontheim haven
    To the mouth of Salten Fiord.

Though the flying sea-spray drenches    5
Fore and aft the rowers’ benches,
Not a single heart is craven
    Of the champions there on board.

All without the Fiord was quiet,
But within it storm and riot,    10
Such as on his Viking cruises
    Raud the Strong was wont to ride.

And the sea through all its tide-ways
Swept the reeling vessels sideways,
As the leaves are swept through sluices,    15
    When the flood-gates open wide.

“‘T is the warlock! ‘t is the demon
Raud!” cried Sigurd to the seamen;
“But the Lord is not affrighted
    By the witchcraft of his foes.”    20

To the ship’s bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended,
Round him were the tapers lighted,
    And the sacred incense rose.

On the bow stood Bishop Sigurd,    25
In his robes, as one transfigured,
And the Crucifix he planted
    High amid the rain and mist.

Then with holy water sprinkled
All the ship; the mass-bells tinkled:    30
Loud the monks around him chanted,
    Loud he read the Evangelist.

As into the Fiord they darted,
On each side the water parted;
Down a path like silver molten    35
    Steadily rowed King Olaf’s ships;

Steadily burned all night the tapers,
And the White Christ through the vapors
Gleamed across the Fiord of Salten,
    As through John’s Apocalypse, —  40

Till at last they reached Raud’s dwelling
On the little isle of Gelling;
Not a guard was at the doorway,
    Not a glimmer of light was seen.

But at anchor, carved and gilded,    45
Lay the dragon-ship he builded;
‘T was the grandest ship in Norway,
    With its crest and scales of green.

Up the stairway, softly creeping,
To the loft where Raud was sleeping,    50
With their fists they burst asunder
    Bolt and bar that held the door.

Drunken with sleep and ale they found him,
Dragged him from his bed and bound him,
While he stared with stupid wonder    55
    At the look and garb they wore.

Then King Olaf said: “O Sea-King!
Little time have we for speaking,
Choose between the good and evil;
    Be baptized! or thou shalt die!”    60

But in scorn the heathen scoffer
Answered: “I disdain thine offer;
Neither fear I God nor Devil;
    Thee and thy Gospel I defy!”

Then between his jaws distended,    65
When his frantic struggles ended,
Through King Olaf’s horn an adder,
    Touched by fire, they forced to glide.

Sharp his tooth was as an arrow,
As he gnawed through bone and marrow;    70
But without a groan or shudder,
    Raud the Strong blaspheming died.

Then baptized they all that region,
Swarthy Lap and fair Norwegian,
Far as swims the salmon, leaping,    75
    Up the streams of Salten Fiord.

In their temples Thor and Odin
Lay in dust and ashes trodden,
As King Olaf, onward sweeping,
    Preached the Gospel with his sword.    80

Then he took the carved and gilded
Dragon-ship that Raud had builded,
And the tiller single-handed
    Grasping, steered into the main.

Southward sailed the sea-gulls o’er him,    85
Southward sailed the ship that bore him,
Till at Drontheim haven landed
    Olaf and his crew again.

XII.

King Olaf’s Christmas

AT Drontheim, Olaf the King
Heard the bells of Yule-tide ring,
    As he sat in his banquet-hall,
Drinking the nut-brown ale,
With his bearded Berserks hale    5
    And tall.

Three days his Yule-tide feasts
He held with Bishops and Priests,
    And his horn filled up to the brim;
But the ale was never too strong,    10
Nor the Saga-man’s tale too long,
    For him.

O’er his drinking-horn, the sign
He made of the cross divine,
    As he drank, and muttered his prayers;    15
But the Berserks evermore
Made the sign of the Hammer of Thor
    Over theirs.

The gleams of the fire-light dance
Upon helmet and hauberk and lance,    20
    And laugh in the eyes of the King;
And he cries to Halfred the Scald,
Gray-bearded, wrinkled, and bald,
    “Sing!”

“Sing me a song divine,    25
With a sword in every line,
    And this shall be thy reward.”
And he loosened the belt at his waist,
And in front of the singer placed
    His sword.    30

“Quern-biter of Hakon of Good,
Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
    The millstone through and through,
And Foot-breadth of Thoralf the Strong,
Were neither so broad nor so long,    35
    Nor so true.”

Then the Scald took his harp and sang,
And loud through the music rang
    The sound of that shining word;
And the harp-strings a clangor made,    40
As if they were struck with the blade
    Of a sword.

And the Berserks round about
Broke forth into a shout
    That made the rafters ring:    45
They smote with their fists on the board,
And shouted, “Long live the Sword,
    And the King!”

But the King said, “O my son,
I miss the bright word in one    50
    Of thy measures and they rhymes.”
And Halfred the Scald replied,
“In another ‘t was multiplied
    Three times.”

Then King Olaf raised the hilt    55
Of iron, cross-shaped and gilt,
    And said, “Do not refuse;
Count well the gain and the loss,
Thor’s hammer or Christ’s cross:
    Choose!”    60

And Halfred the Scald said, “This
In the name of the Lord I kiss,
    Who on it was crucified!”
And a shout went round the board,
“In the name of Christ the Lord,    65
    Who died!”

Then over the waste of snows
The noonday sun uprose,
    Through the driving mists revealed,
Like the lifting of the Host,    70
By incense-clouds almost
    Concealed.

On the shining wall a vast
And shadowy cross was cast
    From the hilt of the lifted sword,    75
And in foaming cups of ale
The Berserks drank “Was-hael!
    To the Lord!”

XIII.

The Building of the Long Serpent

THORBERG SKAFTING, master-builder,
    In his ship-yard by the sea,
Whistling, said, “It would bewilder
Any man but Thorberg Skafting,
    Any man but me!”    5

Near him lay the Dragon stranded,
    Built of old by Raud the Strong,
And King Olaf had commanded
He should build another Dragon,
    Twice as large and long.    10

Therefore whistled Thorberg Skafting,
    As he sat with half-closed eyes,
And his head turned sideways, drafting
That new vessel for King Olaf
    Twice the Dragon’s size.    15

Round him busily hewed and hammered
    Mallet huge and heavy axe;
Workmen laughed and sang and clamored;
Whirred the wheels, that into rigging
    Spun the shining flax!    20

All this tumult heard the master, —
    It was music to his ear;
Fancy whispered all the faster,
“Men shall hear of Thorberg Skafting
    For a hundred year!”    25

Workmen sweating at the forges
    Fashioned iron bolt and bar,
Like a warlock’s midnight orgies
Smoked and bubbled the black caldron
    With the boiling tar.    30

Did the warlocks mingle in it,
    Thorberg Skafting, any curse?
Could you not be gone a minute
But some mischief must be doing,
    Turning bad to worse?    35

‘T was an ill wind that came wafting
    From his homestead words of woe;
To his farm went Thorberg Skafting,
Oft repeating to his workmen,
    Build ye thus and so.    40

After long delays returning
    Came the master back by night;
To his ship-yard longing, yearning,
Hurried he, and did not leave it
    Till the morning’s light.    45

“Come and see my ship, my darling!”
    On the morrow said the King;
“Finished now from keel to carling;
Never yet was seen in Norway
    Such a wondrous thing!”    50

In the ship-yard, idly talking,
    At the ship the workmen stared:
Some one, all their labor balking,
Down her sides had cut deep gashes,
    Not a plank was spared!    55

“Death be to the evil-doer!”
    With an oath King Olaf spoke;
“But rewards to his pursuer!”
And with wrath his face grew redder
    Than his scarlet cloak.    60

Straight the master-builder, smiling,
    Answered thus the angry King:
“Cease blaspheming and reviling,
Olaf, it was Thorberg Skafting
    Who has done this thing!”    65

Then he chipped and smoothed the planking,
    Till the King, delighted, swore,
With much lauding and much thanking,
“Handsomer is now my Dragon
    Than she was before!”    70

Seventy ells and four extended
    On the grass the vessel’s keel;
High above it, gilt and splendid,
Rose the figure-head ferocious
    With its crest of steel.    75

Then they launched her from the tressels,
    In the ship-yard by the sea;
She was the grandest of all vessels,
Never ship was built in Norway
    Half so fine as she!    80

The Long Serpent was she christened,
    ‘Mid the roar of cheer on cheer!
They who to the Saga listened
Heard the name of Thorberg Skafting
    For a hundred year!    85

XIV.

The Crew of the Long Serpent

SAFE at anchor in Drontheim bay
King Olaf’s fleet assembled lay,
  And, striped with white and blue,
Downward fluttered sail and banner,
As alights the screaming lanner;    5
Lustily cheered, in their wild manner,
  The Long Serpent’s crew.

Her forecastle man was Ulf the Red;
Like a wolf’s was his shaggy head,
  His teeth as large and white;    10
His beard, of gray and russet blended,
Round as a swallow’s nest descended;
As standard-bearer he defended
  Olaf’s flag in the fight.

Near him Kolbiorn had his place,    15
Like the King in garb and face,
  So gallant and so hale;
Every cabin-boy and varlet
Wondered at his cloak of scarlet;
Like a river, frozen and star-lit,    20
  Gleamed his coat of mail.

By the bulkhead, tall and dark,
Stood Thrand Rame of Thelemark,
  A figure gaunt and grand;
On his hairy arm imprinted    25
Was an anchor, azure-tinted;
Like Thor’s hammer, huge and dinted
  Was his brawny hand.

Einar Tamberskelver, bare
To the winds his golden hair,    30
  By the mainmast stood;
Graceful was his form, and slender,
And his eyes were deep and tender
As a woman’s, in the splendor
  Of her maidenhood.    35

In the fore-hold Biorn and Bork
Watched the sailors at their work:
  Heavens! how they swore!
Thirty men they each commanded,
Iron-sinewed, horny-handed,    40
Shoulders broad, and chests expanded,
  Tugging at the oar.

These, and many more like these,
With King Olaf sailed the seas,
  Till the waters vast    45
Filled them with a vague devotion,
With the freedom and the motion,
With the roll and roar of ocean
  And the sounding blast.

When they landed from the fleet,    50
How they roared through Drontheim’s street,
  Boisterous as the gale!
How they laughed and stamped and pounded,
Till the tavern roof resounded
And the host looked on astounded    55
  As they drank the ale!

Never saw the wild North Sea
Such a gallant company
  Sail its billows blue!
Never, while they cruised and quarrelled,    60
Old King Gorm, or Blue-Tooth Harald,
Owned a ship so well apparelled,
  Boasted such a crew!

XV.

A Little Bird in the Air

A LITTLE bird in the air
Is singing of Thyri the fair,
  The sister of Svend the Dane;
And the song of the garrulous bird
In the streets of the town is heard,    5
  And repeated again and again.
    Hoist up your sails of silk,
    And flee away from each other.

To King Burislaf, it is said,
Was the beautiful Thyri wed,    10
  And a sorrowful bride went she;
And after a week and a day
She has fled away and away
  From his town by the stormy sea.
    Hoist up your sails of silk,    15
    And flee away from each other.

They say, that through heat and through cold,
Through weald, they say, and through wold,
  By day and by night, they say,
She has fled; and the gossips report    20
She has come to King Olaf’s court,
  And the town is all in dismay.
    Hoist up your sails of silk,
    And flee away from each other.

It is whispered King Olaf has seen,    25
Has talked with the beautiful Queen;
  And they wonder how it will end;
For surely, if here she remain,
It is war with King Svend the Dane,
  And King Burislaf the Vend!    30
    Hoist up your sails of silk,
    And flee away from each other.

Oh, greatest wonder of all!
It is published in hamlet and hall,
  It roars like a flame that is fanned!    35
The King — yes, Olaf the King —
Has wedded her with his ring,
  And Thyri is Queen in the land!
    Hoist up your sails of silk,
    And flee away from each other.    40

XVI.

Queen Thyri and the Angelica Stalks

NORTHWARD over Drontheim,
Flew the clamorous sea-gulls,
Sang the lark and linnet
  From the meadows green;

Weeping in her chamber,    5
Lonely and unhappy,
Sat the Drottning Thyri,
  Sat King Olaf’s Queen.

In at all the windows
Streamed the pleasant sunshine,    10
On the roof above her
  Softly cooed the dove;

But the sound she heard not,
Nor the sunshine heeded,
For the thoughts of Thyri    15
  Were not thoughts of love.

Then King Olaf entered,
Beautiful as morning,
Like the sun at Easter
  Shone his happy face;    20

In his hand he carried
Angelicas uprooted,
With delicious fragrance
  Filling all the place.

Like a rainy midnight    25
Sat the Drottning Thyri,
Even the smile of Olaf
  Could not cheer her gloom;

Nor the stalks he gave her
With a gracious gesture,    30
And with words as pleasant
  As their own perfume.

In her hands he placed them,
And her jewelled fingers
Through the green leaves glistened    35
  Like the dews of morn;

But she cast them from her,
Haughty and indignant,
On the floor she threw them
  With a look of scorn.    40

“Richer presents,” said she,
“Gave King Harald Gormson
To the Queen, my mother,
  Than such worthless weeds;

“When he ravaged Norway,    45
Laying waste the kingdom,
Seizing scatt and treasure
  For her royal needs.

“But thou darest not venture
Through the Sound to Vendland,    50
My domains to rescue
  From King Burislaf;

“Lest King Svend of Denmark,
Forked Beard, my brother,
Scatter all thy vessels    55
  As the wind the chaff.”

Then up sprang King Olaf,
Like a reindeer bounding,
With an oath he answered
  Thus the luckless Queen:    60

“Never yet did Olaf
Fear King Svend of Denmark;
This right hand shall hale him
  By his forked chin!”

Then he left the chamber,    65
Thundering through the doorway,
Loud his steps resounded
  Down the outer stair.

Smarting with the insult,
Through the streets of Drontheim    70
Strode he red and wrathful,
  With his stately air.

All his ships he gathered,
Summoned all his forces,
Making his war levy    75
  In the region round.

Down the coast of Norway,
Like a flock of sea-gulls,
Sailed the fleet of Olaf
  Through the Danish Sound.    80

With his own hand fearless
Steered he the Long Serpent,
Strained the creaking cordage,
  Bent each boom and gaff;

Till in Vendland landing,    85
The domains of Thyri
He redeemed and rescued
  From King Burislaf.

Then said Olaf, laughing,
“Not ten yoke of oxen    90
Have the power to draw us
  Like a woman’s hair!

“Now will I confess it,
Better things are jewels
Than angelica stalks are    95
  For a queen to wear.”

XVII.

King Svend of the Forked Beard

LOUDLY the sailors cheered
Svend of the Forked Beard,
As with his fleet he steered
  Southward to Vendland;
Where with their courses hauled    5
All were together called,
Under the Isle of Svald
  Near to the mainland.

After Queen Gunhild’s death,
So the old Saga saith,    10
Plighted King Svend his faith
  To Sigrid the Haughty;
And to avenge his bride,
Soothing her wounded pride,
Over the waters wide    15
  King Olaf sought he.

Still on her scornful face,
Blushing with deep disgrace,
Bore she the crimson trace
  Of Olaf’s gauntlet;    20
Like a malignant star,
Blazing in heaven afar,
Red shone the angry scar
  Under her frontlet.

Oft to King Svend she spake,    25
“For thine own honor’s sake
Shalt thou swift vengeance take
  On the vile coward!”
Until the King at last,
Gusty and overcast,    30
Like a tempestuous blast
  Threatened and lowered.

Soon as the Spring appeared,
Svend of the Forked Beard
High his red standard reared,    35
  Eager for battle;
While every warlike Dane,
Seizing his arms again,
Left all unsown the grain,
  Unhoused the cattle.    40

Likewise the Swedish King
Summoned in haste a Thing,
Weapons and men to bring
  In aid of Denmark;
Eric the Norseman, too,    45
As the war-tidings flew,
Sailed with a chosen crew
  From Lapland and Finmark.

So upon Easter day
Sailed the three kings away,    50
Out of the sheltered bay,
  In the bright season;
With them Earl Sigvald came,
Eager for spoil and fame;
Pity that such a name    55
  Stooped to such treason!

Safe under Svald at last,
Now were their anchors cast,
Safe from the sea and blast,
  Plotted the three kings;    60
While, with a base intent,
Southward Earl Sigvald went,
On a foul errand bent,
  Unto the Sea-kings.

Thence to hold on his course    65
Unto King Olaf’s force,
Lying within the hoarse
  Mouths of Stet-haven;
Him to ensnare and bring
Unto the Danish king,    70
Who his dead corse would fling
  Forth to the raven!

XVIII.

King Olaf and Earl Sigvald

ON the gray sea-sands
King Olaf stands,
Northward and seaward
He points with his hands.

With eddy and whirl    5
The sea-tides curl,
Washing the sandals
Of Sigvald the Earl.

The mariners shout,
The ships swing about,    10
The yards are all hoisted,
The sails flutter out.

The war-horns are played,
The anchors are weighed,
Like moths in the distance    15
The sails flit and fade.

The sea is like lead,
The harbor lies dead,
As a corse on the sea-shore,
Whose spirit has fled!    20

On that fatal day,
The histories say,
Seventy vessels
Sailed out of the bay.

But soon scattered wide    25
O’er the billows they ride,
While Sigvald and Olaf
Sail side by side.

Cried the Earl: “Follow me!
I your pilot will be,    30
For I know all the channels
Where flows the deep sea!”

So into the strait
Where his foes lie in wait,
Gallant King Olaf    35
Sails to his fate!

Then the sea-fog veils
The ships and their sails;
Queen Sigrid the Haughty,
Thy vengeance prevails!    40

XIX.

King Olaf’s War-Horns

“STRIKE the sails!” King Olaf said;
“Never shall men of mine take flight;
Never away from battle I fled,
Never away from my foes!
    Let God dispose    5
Of my life in the fight!”

“Sound the horns!” said Olaf the King;
And suddenly through the drifting brume
The blare of the horns began to ring,
Like the terrible trumpet shock    10
    Of Regnarock,
On the Day of Doom!

Louder and louder the war-horns sang
Over the level floor of the flood;
All the sails came down with a clang,    15
And there in the midst overhead
    The sun hung red
As a drop of blood.

Drifting down on the Danish fleet
Three together the ships were lashed,    20
So that neither should turn and retreat;
In the midst, but in front of the rest,
    The burnished crest
Of the Serpent flashed.

King Olaf stood on the quarter-deck,    25
With bow of ash and arrows of oak,
His gilded shield was without a fleck,
His helmet inlaid with gold,
    And in many a fold
Hung his crimson cloak.    30

On the forecastle Ulf the Red
Watched the lashing of the ships;
“If the Serpent lie so far ahead,
We shall have hard work of it here,”
    Said he with a sneer    35
On his bearded lips.

King Olaf laid an arrow on string,
“Have I a coward on board?” said he.
“Shoot it another way, O King!”
Sullenly answered Ulf,    40
    The old sea-wolf;
“You have need of me!”

In front came Svend, the King of the Danes,
Sweeping down with his fifty rowers;
To the right, the Swedish king with his thanes;    45
And on board of the Iron Beard
    Earl Eric steered
To the left with his oars.

“These soft Danes and Swedes,” said the King,
“At home with their wives had better stay,    50
Than come within reach of my Serpent’s sting:
But where Eric the Norseman leads
    Heroic deeds
Will be done to-day!”

Then as together the vessels crashed,    55
Eric severed the cables of hide,
With which King Olaf’s ships were lashed,
And left them to drive and drift
    With the currents swift
Of the outward tide.    60

Louder the war-horns growl and snarl,
Sharper the dragons bite and sting!
Eric the son of Hakon Jarl
A death-drink salt as the sea
    Pledges to thee,    65
Olaf the King!

XX.

Einar Tamberskelver

IT was Einar Tamberskelver
  Stood beside the mast;
From his yew-bow, tipped with silver,
  Flew the arrows fast;
Aimed at Eric unavailing,    5
  As he sat concealed,
Half behind the quarter-railing,
  Half behind his shield.

First an arrow struck the tiller,
  Just above his head;    10
“Sing, O Eyvind Skaldaspiller,”
  Then Earl Eric said.
“Sing the song of Hakon dying,
  Sing his funeral wail!”
And another arrow flying    15
  Grazed his coat of mail.

Turning to a Lapland yeoman,
  As the arrow passed,
Said Earl Eric, “Shoot that bowman
  Standing by the mast.”    20
Sooner than the word was spoken
  Flew the yeoman’s shaft;
Einar’s bow in twain was broken,
  Einar only laughed.

“What was that?” said Olaf, standing    25
  On the quarter-deck.
“Something heard I like the stranding
  Of a shattered wreck.”
Einar then, the arrow taking
  From the loosened string,    30
Answered, “That was Norway breaking
  From thy hand, O King!”

“Thou art but a poor diviner,”
  Straightway Olaf said;
“Take my bow, and swifter, Einar,    35
  Let thy shafts be sped.”
Of his bows the fairest choosing,
  Reached he from above;
Einar saw the blood-drops oozing
  Through his iron glove.    40

But the bow was thin and narrow;
  At the first assay,
O’er its head he drew the arrow,
  Flung the bow away;
Said, with hot and angry temper    45
  Flushing in his cheek,
“Olaf! for so great a Kämper
  Are thy bows too weak!”

Then, with smile of joy defiant
  On his beardless lip,    50
Scaled he, light and self-reliant,
  Eric’s dragon-ship.
Loose his golden locks were flowing,
  Bright his armor gleamed;
Like Saint Michael overthrowing    55
  Lucifer he seemed.

XXI.

King Olaf’s Death-Drink

ALL day has the battle raged,
All day have the ships engaged
But not yet is assuaged
  The vengeance of Eric the Earl.

The decks with blood are red,    5
The arrows of death are sped,
The ships are filled with the dead,
  And the spears the champions hurl.

They drift as wrecks on the tide,
The grappling-irons are plied,    10
The boarders climb up the side,
  The shouts are feeble and few.

Ah! never shall Norway again
See her sailors come back o’er the main;
They all lie wounded or slain,    15
  Or asleep in the billows blue!

On the deck stands Olaf the King,
Around him whistle and sing
The spears that the foemen fling,
  And the stones they hurl with their hands.    20

In the midst of the stones and the spears,
Kolbiorn, the marshal, appears,
His shield in the air he uprears,
  By the side of King Olaf he stands.

Over the slippery wreck    25
Of the Long Serpent’s deck
Sweeps Eric with hardly a check,
  His lips with anger are pale;

He hews with his axe at the mast,
Till it falls, with the sails overcast,    30
Like a snow-covered pine in the vast
  Dim forests of Orkadale.

Seeking King Olaf then,
He rushes aft with his men,
As a hunter into the den    35
  Of the bear, when he stands at bay.

“Remember Jarl Hakon!” he cries;
When lo! on his wondering eyes,
Two kingly figures arise,
  Two Olafs in warlike array!    40

Then Kolbiorn speaks in the ear
Of King Olaf a word of cheer,
In a whisper that none may hear,
  With a smile on his tremulous lip;

Two shields raised high in the air,    45
Two flashes of golden hair,
Two scarlet meteors’ glare,
  And both have leaped from the ship.

Earl Eric’s men in the boats
Seize Kolbiorn’s shield as it floats,    50
And cry, from their hairy throats,
  “See! it is Olaf the King!”

While far on the opposite side
Floats another shield on the tide,
Like a jewel set in the wide    55
  Sea-current’s eddying ring.

There is told a wonderful tale,
How the King stripped off his mail,
Like leaves of the brown sea-kale,
  As he swam beneath the main;    60

But the young grew old and gray,
And never, by night or by day,
In his kingdom of Norroway
  Was King Olaf seen again!

XXII.

The Nun of Nidaros

IN the convent of Drontheim,
Alone in her chamber
Knelt Astrid the Abbess,
At midnight, adoring,
Beseeching, entreating    5
The Virgin and Mother.

She heard in the silence
The voice of one speaking,
Without in the darkness,
In gusts of the night-wind,    10
Now louder, now nearer,
Now lost in the distance.

The voice of a stranger
It seemed as she listened,
Of some one who answered    15
Beseeching, imploring,
A cry from afar off
She could not distinguish.

The voice of Saint John,
The beloved disciple,    20
Who wandered and waited
The Master’s appearance,
Alone in the darkness,
Unsheltered and friendless.

“It is accepted,    25
The angry defiance,
The challenge of battle!
It is accepted,
But not with the weapons
Of war that thou wieldest!    30

“Cross against corselet,
Love against hatred,
Peace-cry for war-cry!
Patience is powerful;
He that o’ercometh    35
Hath power o’er the nations!

“As torrents in summer,
Half dried in their channels,
Suddenly rise, though the
Sky is still cloudless,    40
For rain has been falling
Far off at their fountains;

“So hearts that are fainting
Grow full to o’erflowing,
And they that behold it    45
Marvel, and know not
That God at their fountains
Far off has been raining!

“Stronger than steel
Is the sword of the Spirit;    50
Swifter than arrows
The light of the truth is,
Greater than anger
Is love, and subdueth!

“Thou art a phantom,    55
A shape of the sea-mist,
A shape of the brumal
Rain, and the darkness
Fearful and formless;
Day dawns and thou art not!    60

“The dawn is not distant,
Nor is the night starless;
Love is eternal!
God is still God, and
His faith shall not fail us;    65
Christ is eternal!”

The Musician’s Tale: Interlude

A STRAIN of music closed the tale,
A low, monotonous, funeral wail,
That with its cadence, wild and sweet,
Made the long Saga more complete.

“Thank God,” the Theologian said,    5
“The reign of violence is dead,
Or dying surely from the world;
While Love triumphant reigns instead,
And in a brighter sky o’erhead
His blessed banners are unfurled.    10
And most of all thank God for this:
The war and waste of clashing creeds
Now end in words, and not in deeds,
And no one suffers loss, or bleeds,
For thoughts that men call heresies.    15

“I stand without here in the porch,
I hear the bell’s melodious din,
I hear the organ peal within,
I hear the prayer, with words that scorch
Like sparks from an inverted torch,    20
I hear the sermon upon sin,
With threatenings of the last account.
And all, translated in the air,
Reach me but as our dear Lord’s Prayer,
And as the Sermon on the Mount.    25

“Must it be Calvin, and not Christ?
Must it be Athanasian creeds,
Or holy water, books, and beads?
Must struggling souls remain content
With councils and decrees of Trent?    30
And can it be enough for these
The Christian Church the year embalms
With evergreens and boughs of palms,
And fills the air with litanies?

“I know that yonder Pharisee    35
Thanks God that he is not like me;
In my humiliation dressed,
I only stand and beat my breast,
And pray for human charity.

“Not to one church alone, but seven,    40
The voice prophetic spake from heaven;
And unto each the promise came,
Diversified, but still the same;
For him that overcometh are
The new name written on the stone,    45
The raiment white, the crown, the throne,
And I will give him the Morning Star!

“Ah! to how many Faith has been
No evidence of things unseen,
But a dim shadow, that recasts    50
The creed of the Phantasiasts,
For whom no Man of Sorrows died,
For whom the Tragedy Divine
Was but a symbol and a sign,
And Christ a phantom crucified!    55

“For others a diviner creed
Is living in the life they lead.
The passing of their beautiful feet
Blesses the pavement of the street,
And all their looks and words repeat    60
Old Fuller’s saying, wise and sweet,
Not as a vulture, but a dove,
The Holy Ghost came from above.

“And this brings back to me a tale
So sad the hearer well may quail,    65
And question if such things can be;
Yet in the chronicles of Spain
Down the dark pages runs this stain,
And naught can wash them white again,
So fearful is the tragedy.”    70

The Theologian’s Tale

Torquemada

“December 5 [at midnight]. Finished Torquemada, — a dismal story of fanaticism; but in its main points historic. See De Castro, Protestantes Españolus, page 310.”

IN the heroic days when Ferdinand
And Isabella ruled the Spanish land,
And Torquemada, with his subtle brain,
Ruled them as Grand Inquisitor of Spain,
In a great castle near Valladolid,    5
Moated and high and by fair woodlands hid,
There dwelt, as from the chronicles we learn,
An old Hidalgo proud and taciturn,
Whose name has perished, with his towers of stone,
And all his actions save this one alone;    10
This one, so terrible, perhaps ‘t were best
If it, too, were forgotten with the rest;
Unless, perchance, our eyes can see therein
The martyrdom triumphant o’er the sin;
A double picture, with its gloom and glow,    15
The splendor overhead, the death below.

This sombre man counted each day as lost
On which his feet no sacred threshold crossed;
And when he chanced the passing Host to meet,
He knelt and prayed devoutly in the street;    20
Oft he confessed; and with each mutinous thought,
As with wild beasts at Ephesus, he fought.
In deep contrition scourged himself in Lent,
Walked in processions, with his head down bent,
At plays of Corpus Christi oft was seen,    25
And on Palm Sunday bore his bough of green.
His sole diversion was to hunt the boar
Through tangled thickets of the forest hoar,
Or with his jingling mules to hurry down
To some grand bull-fight in the neighboring town,    30
Or in the crowd with lighted taper stand,
When Jews were burned, or banished from the land.
Then stirred within him a tumultuous joy;
The demon whose delight is to destroy
Shook him, and shouted with a trumpet tone,    35
“Kill! kill! and let the Lord find out his own!”

And now, in that old castle in the wood,
His daughters, in the dawn of womanhood,
Returning from their convent school, had made
Resplendent with their bloom the forest shade,    40
Reminding him of their dead mother’s face,
When first she came into that gloomy place, —
A memory in his heart as dim and sweet
As moonlight in a solitary street,
Where the same rays, that lift the sea, are thrown    45
Lovely but powerless upon walls of stone.
These two fair daughters of a mother dead
Were all the dream had left him as it fled.
A joy at first, and then a growing care,
As if a voice within him cried, “Beware!”    50
A vague presentiment of impending doom,
Like ghostly footsteps in a vacant room,
Haunted him day and night; a formless fear
That death to some one of his house was near,
With dark surmises of a hidden crime,    55
Made life itself a death before its time.
Jealous, suspicious, with no sense of shame,
A spy upon his daughters he became;
With velvet slippers, noiseless on the floors,
He glided softly through half-open doors;    60
Now in the room, and now upon the stair,
He stood beside them ere they were aware;
He listened in the passage when they talked,
He watched them from the casement when they walked,
He saw the gypsy haunt the river’s side,    65
He saw the monk among the cork-trees glide;
And, tortured by the mystery and the doubt
Of some dark secret, past his finding out,
Baffled he paused; then reassured again
Pursued the flying phantom of his brain.    70
He watched them even when they knelt in church;
And then, descending lower in his search,
Questioned the servants, and with eager eyes
Listened incredulous to their replies;
The gypsy? none had seen her in the wood!    75
The monk? a mendicant in search of food!

At length the awful revelation came,
Crushing at once his pride of birth and name;
The hopes his yearning bosom forward cast
And the ancestral glories of the past,    80
All fell together, crumbling in disgrace,
A turret rent from battlement to base.
His daughters talking in the dead of night
In their own chamber, and without a light,
Listening, as he was wont, he overheard,    85
And learned the dreadful secret, word by word;
And hurrying from his castle, with a cry
He raised his hands to the unpitying sky,
Repeating one dread word, till bush and tree
Caught it, and shuddering answered, “Heresy!”    90

Wrapped in his cloak, his hat drawn o’er his face,
Now hurrying forward, now with lingering pace,
He walked all night the alleys of his park,
With one unseen companion in the dark,
The demon who within him lay in wait    95
And by his presence turned his love to hate,
Forever muttering in an undertone,
“Kill! kill! and let the Lord find out his own!”

Upon the morrow, after early Mass,
While yet the dew was glistening on the grass,    100
And all the woods were musical with birds,
The old Hidalgo, uttering fearful words,
Walked homeward with the Priest, and in his room
Summoned his trembling daughters to their doom.
When questioned, with brief answers they replied,    105
Nor when accused evaded or denied;
Expostulations, passionate appeals,
All that the human heart most fears or feels,
In vain the Priest with earnest voice essayed;
In vain the father threatened, wept, and prayed;    110
Until at last he said, with haughty mien,
“The Holy Office, then, must intervene!”

And now the Grand Inquisitor of Spain,
With all the fifty horsemen of his train,
His awful name resounding, like the blast    115
Of funeral trumpets, as he onward passed,
Came to Valladolid, and there began
To harry the rich Jews with fire and ban.
To him the Hidalgo went, and at the gate
Demanded audience on affairs of state,    120
And in a secret chamber stood before
A venerable graybeard of fourscore,
Dressed in the hood and habit of a friar;
Out of his eyes flashed a consuming fire,
And in his hand the mystic horn he held,    125
Which poison and all noxious charms dispelled.
He heard in silence the Hidalgo’s tale,
Then answered in a voice that made him quail:
“Son of the Church! when Abraham of old
To sacrifice his only son was told,    130
He did not pause to parley nor protest,
But hastened to obey the Lord’s behest.
In him it was accounted righteousness;
The Holy Church expects of thee no less!”

A sacred frenzy seized the father’s brain,    135
And Mercy from that hour implored in vain.
Ah! who will e’er believe the words I say?
His daughters he accused, and the same day
They both were cast into the dungeon’s gloom,
That dismal antechamber of the tomb,    140
Arraigned, condemned, and sentenced to the flame,
The secret torture and the public shame.

Then to the Grand Inquisitor once more
The Hidalgo went more eager than before,
And said: “When Abraham offered up his son,    145
He clave the wood wherewith it might be done.
By his example taught, let me too bring
Wood from the forest for my offering!”
And the deep voice, without a pause, replied:
“Son of the Church! by faith now justified,    150
Complete thy sacrifice, even as thou wilt;
The Church absolves thy conscience from all guilt!”

Then this most wretched father went his way
Into the woods, that round his castle lay,
Where once his daughters in their childhood played    155
With their young mother in the sun and shade.
Now all the leaves had fallen; the branches bare
Made a perpetual moaning in the air,
And screaming from their eyries overhead
The ravens sailed athwart the sky of lead.    160
With his own hands he lopped the boughs and bound
Fagots, that crackled with foreboding sound,
And on his mules, caparisoned and gay
With bells and tassels, sent them on their way.

Then with his mind on one dark purpose bent,    165
Again to the Inquisitor he went,
And said: “Behold, the fagots I have brought,
And now, lest my atonement be as naught,
Grant me one more request, one last desire, —
With my own hand to light the funeral fire!”    170
And Torquemada answered from his seat,
“Son of the Church! Thine offering is complete;
Her servants through all ages shall not cease
To magnify thy deed. Depart in peace!”

Upon the market-place, builded of stone    175
The scaffold rose, whereon Death claimed his own.
At the four corners, in stern attitude,
Four statues of the Hebrew Prophets stood,
Gazing with calm indifference in their eyes
Upon this place of human sacrifice,    180
Round which was gathering fast the eager crowd,
With clamor of voices dissonant and loud,
And every roof and window was alive
With restless gazers, swarming like a hive.

The church-bells tolled, the chant of monks drew near,    185
Loud trumpets stammered forth their notes of fear,
A line of torches smoked along the street,
There was a stir, a rush, a tramp of feet,
And, with its banners floating in the air,
Slowly the long procession crossed the square,    190
And, to the statues of the Prophets bound,
The victims stood, with fagots piled around.
Then all the air a blast of trumpets shook,
And louder sang the monks with bell and book,
And the Hidalgo, lofty, stern, and proud,    195
Lifted his torch, and, bursting through the crowd,
Lighted in haste the fagots, and then fled,
Lest those imploring eyes should strike him dead!
O pitiless skies! why did your clouds retain
For peasants’ fields their floods of hoarded rain?    200
O pitiless earth! why opened no abyss
To bury in its chasm a crime like this?

That night, a mingled column of fire and smoke
From the dark thickets of the forest broke,
And, glaring o’er the landscape leagues away,    205
Made all the fields and hamlets bright as day.
Wrapped in a sheet of flame the castle blazed,
And as the villagers in terror gazed,
They saw the figure of that cruel knight
Lean from a window in the turret’s height,    210
His ghastly face illumined with the glare,
His hands upraised above his head in prayer,
Till the floor sank beneath him, and he fell
Down the black hollow of that burning well.

Three centuries and more above his bones    215
Have piled the oblivious years like funeral stones;
His name has perished with him, and no trace
Remains on earth of his afflicted race;
But Torquemada’s name, with clouds o’ercast,
Looms in the distant landscape of the Past,    220
Like a burnt tower upon a blackened heath,
Lit by the fires of burning woods beneath!

The Theologian’s Tale: Interlude

THUS closed the tale of guilt and gloom,
That cast upon each listener’s face
Its shadow, and for some brief space
Unbroken silence filled the room.
The Jew was thoughtful and distressed;    5
Upon his memory thronged and pressed
The persecution of his race,
Their wrongs and sufferings and disgrace;
His head was sunk upon his breast,
And from his eyes alternate came    10
Flashes of wrath and tears of shame.

The Student first the silence broke,
As one who long has lain in wait,
With purpose to retaliate,
And thus he dealt the avenging stroke.    15
“In such a company as this,
A tale so tragic seems amiss,
That by its terrible control
O’ermasters and drags down the soul
Into a fathomless abyss.    20
The Italian Tales that you disdain,
Some merry Night of Straparole,
Or Machiavelli’s Belphagor,
Would cheer us and delight us more,
Give greater pleasure and less pain    25
Than your grim tragedies of Spain!”

And here the Poet raised his hand,
With such entreaty and command,
It stopped discussion at its birth,
And said: “The story I shall tell    30
Has meaning in it, if not mirth;
Listen, and hear what once befell
The merry birds of Killingworth!”

The Poet’s Tale

The Birds of Killingworth

IT was the season, when through all the land
  The merle and mavis build, and building sing
Those lovely lyrics, written by His hand,
  Whom Saxon Cædmon calls the Blithe-heart King;
When on the boughs the purple buds expand,    5
  The banners of the vanguard of the Spring,
And rivulets, rejoicing, rush and leap,
And wave their fluttering signals from the steep.

The robin and the bluebird, piping loud,
  Filled all the blossoming orchards with their glee;    10
The sparrows chirped as if they still were proud
  Their race in Holy Writ should mentioned be;
And hungry crows, assembled in a crowd,
  Clamored their piteous prayer incessantly,
Knowing who hears the ravens cry, and said:    15
“Give us, O Lord, this day, our daily bread!”

Across the Sound the birds of passage sailed,
  Speaking some unknown language strange and sweet
Of tropic isle remote, and passing hailed
  The village with the cheers of all their fleet;    20
Or quarrelling together, laughed and railed
  Like foreign sailors, landed in the street
Of seaport town, and with outlandish noise
Of oaths and gibberish frightening girls and boys.

Thus came the jocund Spring in Killing-worth,    25
  In fabulous days, some hundred years ago;
And thrifty farmers, as they tilled the earth,
  Heard with alarm the cawing of the crow,
That mingled with the universal mirth,
  Cassandra-like, prognosticating woe;    30
They shook their heads, and doomed with dreadful words
To swift destruction the whole race of birds.

And a town-meeting was convened straight-way
  To set a price upon the guilty heads
Of these marauders, who, in lieu of pay,    35
  Levied black-mail upon the garden beds
And cornfields, and beheld without dismay
  The awful scarecrow, with his fluttering shreds;
The skeleton that waited at their feast,
Whereby their sinful pleasure was increased.    40

Then from his house, a temple painted white,
  With fluted columns, and a roof of red,
The Squire came forth, august and splendid sight!
  Slowly descending, with majestic tread,
Three flights of steps, nor looking left nor right,    45
  Down the long street he walked, as one who said,
“A town that boasts inhabitants like me
Can have no lack of good society!”

The Parson, too, appeared, a man austere,
  The instinct of whose nature was to kill;    50
The wrath of God he preached from year to year,
  And read, with fervor, Edwards on the Will;
His favorite pastime was to slay the deer
  In Summer on some Adirondac hill;
E’en now, while walking down the rural lane,    55
He lopped the wayside lilies with his cane.

From the Academy, whose belfry crowned
  The hill of Science with its vane of brass,
Came the Preceptor, gazing idly round,
  Now at the clouds, and now at the green grass,    60
And all absorbed in reveries profound
  Of fair Almira in the upper class,
Who was, as in a sonnet he had said,
As pure as water, and as good as bread.

And next the Deacon issued from his door,    65
  In his voluminous neck-cloth, white as snow;
A suit of sable bombazine he wore;
  His form was ponderous, and his step was slow;
There never was so wise a man before;
  He seemed the incarnate “Well, I told you so!”    70
And to perpetuate his great renown
There was a street named after him in town.

These came together in the new town-hall,
  With sundry farmers from the region round.
The Squire presided, dignified and tall,    75
  His air impressive and his reasoning sound;
Ill fared it with the birds, both great and small;
  Hardly a friend in all that crowd they found,
But enemies enough, who every one
Charged them with all the crimes beneath the sun.    80

When they had ended, from his place apart
  Rose the Preceptor, to redress the wrong,
And, trembling like a steed before the start,
  Looked round bewildered on the expectant throng;
Then thought of fair Almira, and took heart    85
  To speak out what was in him, clear and strong,
Alike regardless of their smile or frown,
And quite determined not to be laughed down.

“Plato, anticipating the Reviewers,
  From his Republic banished without pity    90
The Poets; in this little town of yours,
  You put to death, by means of a Committee,
The ballad-singers and the Troubadours,
  The street-musicians of the heavenly city,
The birds, who make sweet music for us all    95
In our dark hours, as David did for Saul.