ACT V
(The 'Great Hall' at Flugumyr, with raised seats along both walls and a dais at the gable end. The entrance door is at the right, in the side wall towards the background. The upper part of the walls is draped with hangings, the lower part with shields hung up. Along the side walls are benches; two high seats in the foreground on either side; in front of the higher one a little table. In the middle of the dais is the seat of LADY HELGA, with benches behind it. The evening candles are lit on all sides.) (HELGA and SALVOR.)
Helga.—You do well to take a part of the domestic work off my shoulders.
Salvor.—You have been very kind to me, Lady Helga.
Helga.—To-morrow early I need breakfast for five hundred men.
Salvor.—All hands are at work, lady!
Helga.—To-morrow the chieftains are to do battle; have you bandages enough, ready? A good physician is worth half an army.
Salvor.—There will not be any want of bandages. (She embraces HELGA, half weeping.) Let the chieftains make peace, lady!
Helga.—That would amount to humbling my husband! (Seats herself on her chair on the dais.) Bishop Botolf has promised to sit with us in the hall here to-night; have two tapers, large and thick, placed on the table in front of the high seat.
(EINAR THE RICH enters hurriedly and runs up on the dais. He lays his head on the knees of LADY HELGA. SALVOR shrieks in fright.)
Einar.—I am bringing you my head, lady!
Helga.—Why shriek so, Salvor?—Who are you?
Einar.—I am Einar of Vik.
Helga.—Good is your gift, and I shall gladly accept it! Salvor! Ask Asbjorn Illugason to come here. I desire that he shall behead Einar the Rich. (Exit SALVOR.)
Einar (quickly takes THOROLF'S ring from his arm).—Spare my life; for God's sake, mercy, mercy, mercy!
Helga.—You shall obtain the same mercy as did Thorolf Bjarnason!
Einar.—Do you know this ring, lady?
Helga (attentively looking at the ring).—That ring I know; did you steal it from the body of Thorolf?
Einar.—Steal? As rich a man as I am? No, Thorolf bade me give you this ring, lady, with this message——
Helga (approaching him, eagerly).—What message? What message? Was that just before he was slain?
Einar.—Yes, just before that!
Helga.—And the message? Are you tongue-tied?
Einar.—That I should be spared, life and limb, although I had been among his assailants.
Helga.—Did Thorolf mention any others to be spared beside you?
Einar.—No, none!
Helga.—The ring is the right sign. If Thorolf has forgiven you, why should I not do likewise? (Leads him out.) Wait here in that corner; I shall spare you.
Asbjorn (comes in hurriedly).—Are you in danger, lady?
Helga.—No. A man's life was given me which I did not wish to take, though.
Asbjorn.—I feared it might be some attack by Broddi and his men.
Helga.—Broddi will soon become peacefully inclined. (Enter KOLBEIN THE YOUNG, BISHOP BOTOLF in his pontifical robes, HAF, and SALVOR, bearing two big, stout tapers which are lit. The hall becomes half filled with armed men.)
Botolf.—Pax tecum, filia!
Helga (bows before the bishop and leads him to the higher seat of honor).—Be seated on this higher seat of honor this evening, my lord. To-morrow an army of my husband's will accompany you to Holar and re-establish you in your see, as soon as we shall have driven from thence Broddi's and Brand's troop of rebels.
Botolf.—A captive bishop is content to be seated on the lower high seat, my daughter!
Helga.—As you wish, my lord. (Leads him to the lower seat of honor, where he is seated. SALVOR moves the table to the lower high seat and puts the tapers upon it. Most of the men are sitting; drink-horns and ale are brought in.)
Kolbein (is given a drinking-horn, BOTOLF another, from whom they are passed on from man to man. KOLBEIN seats himself on the higher seat of honor).—There is courage in our men; they all are minded to do battle in order to be rid of that horde of rebels.
Botolf.—You take much power upon yourself, Kolbein, to begin war and kill so many men without law and its decrees.
Kolbein.—Why do you speak thus, my lord? You freed the slayers of Thorolf from the interdict; and yet they slew him without the law and its decrees.
Botolf.—It is a labor of love for the Holy Church to pardon the guilty. We do it for God's sake.
Kolbein.—And it is the task of chieftains to administer the laws themselves, and to begin hostilities in order to make others submit to their will.
(The horns pass around until HAF has finished reciting his lay.)
Botolf.—An ill task and a disastrous one. To me it seems that parliament ought to administer the laws and pronounce judgment according to them.
Kolbein.—We chieftains have all power over law and decrees in parliament. It would only delay sentence to seek a decision there.
Botolf.—It has come to my ears that Brand Kolbeinsson owns by rights the greater part of the dominions you now govern, and that, for this reason you are not rightfully chieftain here.
Kolbein.—I, as well as Brand, am of the race of Asbjorn, and Sighvat Sturluson put me in possession of the land when I was but fifteen years old.
Botolf.—And therefore had you Sighvat and his sons killed in the battle of Orlygsstad.
Kolbein.—Sighvat wanted to lure my constituents from me by his wiles. The yeomen chose me their chieftain twenty years ago, and ever since I have performed, now this, now that deed, so that the yeomen would not choose another chieftain in my stead. Therefore is it right that I should be chieftain here. But to my ears it has come that you, my lord, have not lawfully come to be bishop at Holar!
Helga (drinks from the horn and smiles).—To your health, sir bishop!
Botolf (responds after a while to her toast).—You astonish me! The archbishop appointed me!
Kolbein.—No one becomes lawfully bishop of Holar until we of the North Quarter have chosen him. And you we have not chosen, my lord! You are bishop here as long as I will, and no longer. Another matter it is that I shall do all to be at peace with the Holy Church, because the days of my life are probably counted.
Botolf.—I have now learned how strong your desire for peace is, Kolbein.
Helga.—Remember, my lord, that Kolbein thought it a matter of necessity that you should be his guest for a few days. I have treated you as well, sir, as my work would permit me and you would accept.
Botolf.—And yet they say that you more than any other were cause of the state of war that now exists, and that your flattering of me is but dissimulation.
Helga.—They are my enemies who tell you that, sir bishop! (HELGA leaves her seat. ASBJORN, who has been speaking with a man, approaches her. They converse together in subdued voice in the foreground.)
Asbjorn.—Shall I tell Kolbein that Brand Kolbeinsson is riding to Flugumyr with eleven followers?
Helga.—No! Remember Helgi Skaftason, should he come with Brand.
Asbjorn.—Come he will if he is fated to death.
Helga.—Is Broddi along?
Asbjorn.—He is likely to be at Holar in the fort.
Helga (goes to her seat. Raises her voice). There is no cheer here to-night. Haf! Have you no song to recite or some tale to tell?
Haf (advancing to middle of floor).—I have put together a little song about the present feud.
Helga.—Let men hear it, Haf!
Haf.—Hither I see the ravens winging,
They steer their flight to Holar's steeple
On their errand bent death bringing;
Hard the bishop's bells are ringing:
Longest peals great Likabong:[A]
'The Peace of God shall save the people.'
[Footnote A: 'Lyke-knell,' name of the great bell of the Holar Cathedral.]
Heroes head their warlike forces,
Mailed fists 'gainst shields are clashing,
Over Herad's water-courses
Thunder thousand hoofs of horses,
Over fords and bridges dashing.
Long afar moans Likabong.
Death foretells the cock's dawn-greeting:
Many a fey man's fair limbs mangles
Soon the sword and spear in meeting.
Hot the Northland blood is beating!
Low and dull weeps Likabong.
The shiv'ring Southron sea-cod angles.
Helga.—Excellent! That's aimed at Hjalti, the son of the bishop,—the cod-biter!
Haf.—Peace,—how many a foe will crave her!
In Woden's spoor the sward is bloody—
Many a head the swords dissever;
Be our host victorious ever!
Silent lastly Likabong—
Women weep for men once ruddy.
Botolf.—Little your skald's song contributes to the honor of the Church as it seems to me, Lady Helga.
Helga (lifts the drinking-horn to her lips; the bishop responds in silence).—To your health, sir bishop! When at Oddi I listened to the opinions of Snorri Sturluson and of Sæmund, my father, about poetics, but I doubt whether they would have thought that Haf had said ought derogatory to the Holy Church, in particularly mentioning in the burthen what Likabong does.
Botolf.—I shall not discuss the more hidden meanings; but in the last stanza Likabong certainly is silent with shame.
Helga.—Far from it, sir bishop! Likabong is Moses, who is praying with outstretched arms whilst Josua is giving battle. When the battle is won his hands drop with weariness.
Botolf (to KOLBEIN THE YOUNG).—Likabong did not weep when you fled from Broddi and the Holy Church at Holar, which was preparing to resist worldly insolence.
Kolbein.—No, excepting it shed tears at having to part with its bishop in such headlong haste!
Helga.—I had heard before that the 'Peace of God' which the bishop let be pealed over the land had saved us from complete rout at the beginning of the feud. But now I hear for the first time that my husband fled before Broddi and the Holy Church of Holar.
Kolbein.—Never did I flee, but at that occasion I was forced to avoid trouble. (Advances on the floor and mounts with one foot on the dais on which HELGA is seated.) Here I place my foot on the beam and make a vow that I shall never flee before Broddi Thorleifsson. (Returns to his seat.)
Asbjorn.—And here I place my foot on the beam and make a vow that if battle there will be I shall exchange blows with Broddi Thorleifsson until one of us fall dead.
Helga.—Well spoken, Asbjorn!
Haf (comes from the door).—Brand Kolbeinsson is approaching with an armed band.
Kolbein.—Is my kinsman beside himself?
Helga.—To arms! To arms!
Kolbein (laughs).—Why, it seems as if the people of Oddi want to enter the fray!
Helga.—You have forgotten, my husband, that my father threw down the glove single-handed to all the burghers of Bergentown, because of the drowning of my brother Paul.
(The men are standing with drawn swords along both sides of the hall, leaving a lane in the middle. BRAND, BRODDI, ALF, and the other slayers of THOROLF pass up it. LADY JORUN in a man's apparel and DEACON SIGURD follow them. Last of all HELGI SKAFTASON.)
Helga.—There we see each other again, Helgi Skaftason! (Points down with the thumb of her right hand. HELGI is killed and dragged out without the other slayers of THOROLF becoming aware of it. EINAR THE RICH enters again with the men of KOLBEIN, who dragged out HELGI. He joins the band of BRAND. The axe of HELGI remains lying on the spot where he fell.)
Brand.—Hail, Kolbein kinsman!
Broddi.—Hail, brother-in-law! What truce shall we have?
Helga.—The same as had Thorolf Bjarnason!
Broddi.—I care not to quarrel with women about my life!
Helga.—It is too late for the fox to fight for life, once he has gone into the trap.
Kolbein.—Why, Brand Kolbeinsson, did you attack and slay Thorolf, our friend?
Broddi.—I did more to incite men to that than did Brand Kolbeinsson, and we offer to atone for his slaying with much money, if you are willing.
Helga.—More will be needful than only money.
Brand.—I thought there was great necessity to do away with Thorolf.
Helga.—'Perjured men, murder-wolves.'[A] Jorun, your wife, egged you on to take revenge for her father and her brother.
[Footnote A: Quotation from the Eddic poem Voluspo.]
Brand.—It is entirely untrue that my wife Jorun egged me on to revenge either her father or brother, even if men have told you so, Kolbein. About absent people most things can be told. But for this reason was Thorolf deprived of life, because you had set him as chieftain over the Eyafirth, to succeed you.
Kolbein.—Never did I do that!
Brand.—Helga, your wife, affirmed that you had done so.
Helga.—Certainly you did, my husband. But, well it may be that at the time you were not in full possession of your senses.
Einar.—I heard it, my lord, how you set Thorolf chieftain over Eyafirth. And so no one dare blame Lady Helga for having misheard or mis-stated the matter.
Sigurd.—You here, Einar the Rich!
Brand.—Notwithstanding Thorolf's low descent you gave him preference over chieftains, you gave him authority over men, and you let him journey with you to Rome. No peacemaker was your Thorolf among men; but a bad companion he was, and me he nicknamed.
Kolbein.—All that has Thorolf atoned for with his life. Why, Broddi, did you attack my friend Thorolf?
Broddi.—I am your brother-in-law, Kolbein, and I owed it to you to avenge insults heaped upon you. Long had he been faithless to you and cunningly served both you and been a treacherous follower to you both here and abroad.
Helga.—Easy it is to perceive that Thorolf no longer dwells among the living since he is thus slandered. For this reason you killed him, because you thought Kolbein to be dead and that Eyafirth had gotten too brave a leader in him.
Brand.—It casts no good light upon you, my lady, to praise Thorolf Bjarnason thus highly!
Kolbein.—And what moved you, Alf, to attack Thorolf, my friend?
Alf.—My hatred of the dog!
Helga.—Little hope I see of a reconciliation. One of Thorolf's slayers dried his blood on the fringes of my veil. And you, Alf of Grof, you reviled me like the worst witch; you wanted to have a sack pulled over my head.
Kolbein (furious).—Boor!—have a sack pulled over her! A sack,—you devilish fiend! What did you cattle mean? I shall have your skin flayed off you and pull it over your ears after you are dead! I shall never make peace with Alf of Grof!
Helga.—A loutish rustic should never take part in the dealings of men of great account!
Alf.—I offer all my property as ransom!
Broddi.—Silence, you coward—all your property!
Alf.—Have I no right to live, if I can?
Helga.—I cannot see what use there is in your living, Alf!
Kolbein.—Alf of Grof and I shall never be reconciled.
Brand.—I journeyed hither with Thorolf's slayers in order to reach an agreement with you. If it be not your will to accept reconciliation with us, I demand that you hand over to me possession of all those districts that are mine by rights, so that I in that manner may obtain sufficient resources to be able to sustain the fine which you will impose on us for the slaying.
Helga.—Now it is clear that your men have no scruples to kill each the other, but will by no means be ready to atone for it. With demands such as these, Brand Kolbeinsson foregoes all chance of reaching an agreement. You promised me a man's life in this feud, Kolbein. Take Brand's life, then, and that will take away the inclination for further rebellion against you. (Silence.)
Botolf.—And you intend to take Brand's life, when the Peace of God is at an end?
Kolbein.—For the welfare of our Quarter I know no better counsel than that which Lady Helga has given.
Helga.—Less cause even there was against Kalf Guttormsson, and yet has he been mouldering in his grave these ten years. Asbjorn and Haf, seize hold of my kinsman Brand!
Sigurd.—I have heard that you would spare Brand Kolbeinsson's life if another man were willing to die for him.
Helga.—I did make that condition. (Laughs.) Will you fulfill it, deacon?
Sigurd.—No. Because I know you will show no mercy.
Jorun (leaps up on the dais and lays her head on HELGA'S knee).—Take my life instead of Brand Kolbeinsson's life.
Helga.—You are out of your senses, lad!
Jorun (arises, looking at LADY HELGA).—You cut close to me ten years ago; take now my life also!
Helga (shades her eyes).—You, were beheaded ten years ago! Has the lad Guttorm Kalfsson risen from his grave?
Kolbein.—Do we see apparitions in the light?
Broddi (to BRAND).—How did your wife Jorun come among our company? (BRAND leaps up on the dais and carries JORUN down on his arm. About all the hall men are heard to say in a low voice, 'LADY JORUN.' While she is being carried down to the floor she extends her arms toward HELGA.)
Jorun.—Take my life as you have taken my father's and my brother's; then you need fear no longer that I am egging on my kinsmen to avenge me on you. (BRAND sets her down on the floor. They embrace each other fervently.)
Helga.—Of little worth I hold your life, Jorun; but in order to keep my promise I shall take it instead of your husband's life. (Calls out.) Take my prisoner away from Brand Kolbeinsson!
Broddi.—Let us protect her with our bodies!
Brand.—Look you, Helga my kinswoman, you will not reach your prisoner so very easily for the first. (DEACON SIGURD picks up HELGI SKAFTASON'S axe, for he is weaponless. They take JORUN in their midst.)
Helga.—To arms! Wrest my prisoner from among them!
Broddi.—Hold my place for a moment, my men, if it should be vacant a short while.—Is it really so, Kolbein the Young, that your wife has made you so senselessly mad that you are about to attack us in order to butcher a woman?
Kolbein.—Lady Helga's matter this is, not mine. If we cannot reach terms of peace, it is because of Helgi Skaftason and Alf of Grof!
Broddi.—And you let her attack us in order to butcher a woman?
Kolbein.—I let it come as it may.
Broddi.—Then more will have to come as it may. Be on your guard, Kolbein!
(KOLBEIN has been sitting in his high seat without drawing his sword, but has had it lying on his knees and now and then unsheathed it halfways. BRODDI rushes at him to deliver a blow; KOLBEIN dodges the blow and grasps BRODDI'S wrist with both hands, so that his sword drops on the floor. Then he forces BRODDI to sit beside him on the high seat.)
Kolbein.—Be calm now, Broddi! The slaying of Thorolf was an ill deed and a needless one.
Broddi.—Let go of me, you hell-hound!
Kolbein (laughs).—How furious you are now, brother-in-law!
Helga.—What fell there to the floor?
Kolbein.—The action for avenging Thorolf Bjarnason, which slipped from your hands, lady!
Helga.—That would not have made so great a sound.
Brand.—Lady Helga! you who once were my mother's sister! I shall surrender my arms and myself to you if all others will then be granted to make atonement for the slaying of Thorolf.
Helga.—Keep your arms yourself, for no one does less harm with them than you. My promise to your wife I shall keep; I wonder only that she goes not herself voluntarily from among your midst, in order to save us difficulties.
Jorun.—I cannot, for they hold me.
Helga (calls out).—Fetch my captive Jorun from among them! (HAF ASBJORN and the men of KOLBEIN surround BRAND and his followers.)
Asbjorn.—We shall set upon you now!
Botolf.—Bide a little. (Takes the candles from the table.) Now I shall lay in the Norse language the interdict on Kolbein and Helga.
Helga.—Say what you please, bishop. But you will have to revoke your interdict before you go from hence.
Botolf.—That shall I never. No priest shall ever say service for you, and, you shall have no lasting dwelling place but hell. (Holds the candles with the flame downward.)
Helga.—Haf, you stand near enough to the bishop! Gag him with the end of your spear.
Kolbein (jumps up without letting go of BRODDI).—Hear me, sir bishop! Desist from laying the interdict on me, because not far is the time when I shall need the mercy of God and his Holy Church. Lady Helga has been insulted in such fashion as no high-born lady would endure. But I, for my part, shall be ready to make atonement for the insult offered by her to you and the Holy Church now for the first time.
Botolf.—Easy it is to reach an agreement with me, Kolbein, if this larger matter which you have been warring about so long could be settled to-night to the satisfaction of all.
Kolbein.—Then hear my decision: For the murder of Thorolf Bjarnason. I decree a fine of eighteen marks silver, and also that those men who may have fallen as part of the vengeance for Thorolf shall not be atoned for.
Brand.—Agreed, kinsman Kolbein; the sum you demand for the slaying of Thorolf shall be paid.
Helga.—How may this be, my husband? You have promised me a man's life before this feud would be ended.
Kolbein.—Have I not demanded an exceedingly high compensation for Thorolfs death?
Helga.—But Thorolf was slain in a pledged truce.
Broddi.—That truce was made under compulsion.
Kolbein.—The man's life you stipulated for yourself you have chosen and taken yourself, or else, where is Helgi Skaftason?
(HELGA is silent.)
Brand.—Helgi Skaftason! Where is he?
Botolf.—His axe is there! (DEACON SIGURD looks around.) Are you still carrying weapons, Deacon Sigurd? Clercs are not permitted to bear arms.
Sigurd.—Great need I thought there was to do so now. The danger in which was my lady Jorun and you also, sir bishop, and the axe lay before my feet.
Botolf.—Nevermore carry arms, deacon!
Brand.—Is Helgi Skaftason still alive? If so, is it not possible that his deed be atoned for?
Helga.—I shall no longer conceal from you, Brand Kolbeinsson, that Helgi Skaftason will no more dry his axe on the fringe of my veil! In order now that this our reconciliation be kept well I desire to have your son Kalf, to foster him up with me.
Jorun.—That shall never be, that you train my boy to be a disturber of the peace.
Botolf.—That shall never be; the boy is a hopeful man for a chieftain and ought to be trained up to love peace and abide by the law.
Kolbein.—What punishment would you inflict on her, if she got the boy?
Botolf.—The excommunication of the Holy Church; the Church wants peace! (Short silence.)
Helga (furiously).—You stand there still, Alf of Grof; do you still wish to have a sack pulled over my head?
Kolbein.—It will never do that a lout insult a high-born woman with impunity. Therefore, I decree that Alf of Grof shall leave the country, never more to return whilst she is in living life.
Alf.—Why not rather have me put to death?
Helga.—You fear death too much, you coward!
Broddi.—And under what conditions shall I make peace with you?
Kolbein.—You shall have your sword back, and sit in the high seat for the remainder of the evening, but as soon as the sea is open again (slaps BRODDI on his shoulder) we shall, both of us, go to meet Thord Kakali and his Westfirthings.
Brand.—Much has your fame grown through these happenings, kinswoman Helga! Exceeding precious must be all your finery, if every spot on the fringes of your veil shall cost a man's life.
Helga.—You will remember, kinsman, that I am a descendant in the fourth generation from King Magnus Bareleg. Lady Jorun, come hither and share the dais with us women. (Woman's garments are put on JORUN when she joins the women. BRAND and BOTOLF share the lower seat of honor. The men sheathe their swords, hang up their shields, and seat themselves. KOLBEIN THE YOUNG takes up a drinking-horn; horns are passed among the men.)
Kolbein.—To-day we have brought to a happy end a feud, the like of which has not been within this district.
Brand.—And the quarrel has ended with full reconciliation.
Alf.—Indeed, we have been fully reconciled, Helgi Skaftason and I; he going to hell and I into exile.
Helga.—Worse condition you might have got, Alf of Grof.
Kolbein.—And to-morrow we shall accompany Bishop Botolf to Holar together, with five hundred men, and shall reinstate him with the greatest honors. Then we shall furlough the greater part of our men. (The men raise shouts of joy.) And after that we hope that we may dwell in peace for some time.
Salvor.—Meanwhile we women shall heal the wounds of the men.
Botolf.—And then there will be peace on earth.
Sigurd.—And good will among men!
(Curtain)