The Frithiof Saga

In olden times there ruled in Norway a King of great renown called Bele, whose wife died early, leaving him two sons and a daughter. When the latter had reached her sixth year,...

Again the Spring had come. Frigga, the radiant Earth-goddess, had decked meadow, hill, and vale with bloom and verdure, and summoned the various warblers of grove and wood. One...

King Bele and Thorsten, his faithful old brother-in-arms, were now bowed with the weight of years, like two ruined temples upon whose walls are graven runes of wisdom still powe...

The two aged heroes died as they had hoped, within a short time of each other, and were buried as King Bele had bidden, the two princes being declared joint heirs to the throne...

Each day the great hall echoed to the sound of harpstrings and rang with praises of the great deeds of his sires, but naught could rouse Frithiof from his melancholy. Once more...

There reigned at this time in the far North a King named Ring, no longer young, but gentle and kindly as Balder himself, and sage as Mimir, who guards the fount of Wisdom. His r...

Frithiof was sitting with Bjorn in his hall at Framnas before a splendid chessboard, the squares of which were alternate gold and silver, when Hilding entered. Greeting the old...

"Surely 'twill be no violation of Balder's sanctuary if I do but seek in all honor and propriety to hold converse with the King's daughter, my play-fellow and companion from our...

Oft the next day did Ingeborg turn her footsteps toward the sea, and at last as she neared the wooded shore once more, the sails of the swiftly approaching dragon glimmered thro...

Cold blew the wind; day by day the skies darkened; deck and mast, sail and rudder were covered thick with ice and frost. Frithiof was already far from his native shores when sud...

In his great hall near the sea sat Augantyr at wassail with his champions, while outside the window Halvar kept watch. A good swordsman and stout drinker was he, and often as hi...

The winter passed, and again were hill and valley, grove and forest, clothed with bloom and verdure. Then Frithiof thanked his host, and, bidding him farewell, was soon speeding...

It was midnight. Low across the mountains burned the blood-red sun, which in far northern Scandinavia never sets on the longest day of the year. Neither day nor night was it--an...

As "Ellida" passed the strand, Frithiof gazed from the deck with gloomy brow upon the scene of conflagration, from which the thick smoke still ascended, and anguish filled his b...

"Wine is drink of the gods. Enjoy thou the gift, but drown not thy senses--beware! He who falls on the land rises quickly again; who staggers here is the death-goddess' prey!

On his high-seat sat King Ring, celebrating the great Yule tide feast that fell on the winter solstice, and beside him Ingeborg, his wife, like chilly Autumn with the youthful S...

"Ho for a sledge ride over the frozen lake!" cried Ring one day; and the servitors hastened to loose one of the pawing steeds from the royal stables and harness it before a sple...

Spring is come once more; birds warble in the treetops; freed from their icy bonds, the streams leap gaily downward to the vales below; the roses part their delicate sheaths and...

Pale on his throne sat the aged monarch, for he felt his end approaching. Ingeborg, trembling, stood beside him, and a circle of silent warriors stood about the royal pair. Sorr...

"To the Ting! To the Ting!" The message flies o'er hill and vale; the people are summoned to elect their King. Champions try their swords, vassals polish their lord's helm and b...

No peace was there yet in Frithiof's heart. As fire had once consumed the temple, so within him still blazed the flames of his remorse that by his act had Balder's earthly dwell...