CHAPTER XIX SIGURD IN SWEDEN. THE BATTLE OF THE FORD
Sigurd said that he should go to Sweden by sea, as that was the quicker way for one who did not know the land ways. He had a ship fitted out, and was often down on the hard, either going to his ship or coming from it.
One day he saw, or thought he saw, Gunnar sitting there in the sun. It was a man of about his size in a cloak which he had been fond of wearing; a faded red cloak with a hood to it which stuck out in a bunch upon his shoulders. After a good look at him he knew that it could not be Gunnar, but was still curious about the cloak. He went up to the man until he could touch him, and then did touch him by lifting up the hem of the cloak to see if the braid was like that of Gunnar's. It was the very same.
"Good day to you," Sigurd said, and the man, seeing a lord beside him, rose up and saluted him. He looked like a fisherman or seafarer.
"I was interested in your cloak," Sigurd said. "I think my brother Gunnar will have given it to you. But he left the country more than a twelvemonth ago, and I see that you have worn it hard."
The man laughed. "Not so hard then," he said, "seeing I have not had it in my hands more than a few days, and this is but the second time I have worn it."
"From whom did you receive it? I must needs know, for a good deal hangs upon what you tell me."
The man stared, and then looked rather sullen. "It is fairly mine," he said, "as a thing is that comes from the bottom of the sea."
Now it was Sigurd who stared. "You fished it up from the sea-bed?"
"It came up with my anchor six nights ago or seven."
"Where were you moored?"
He pointed out to sea. "I was lying just off the Ness, having been out with the nets. But the wind shifted at sunset, and I was not hurried, so stayed there snug enough till morning. It is a soft bottom there. In the morning I shipped my anchor, and up comes this cloak with a great stone in the hood of it. It had been cast there by somebody who wanted it to stay there, but you see things went awry with him."
"They did so," said Sigurd. "Now I will give you three crowns for the cloak as it stands."
"If you do that you do a foolish thing," said the man, "but it is not for me to stop you.
"It's not so foolish as you suppose," Sigurd answered. He paid over his money, and away with the cloak.
"I take you with me to find your master," he said to it, very well satisfied with his morning's work.
He made a good journey in his ship, coasted the land of Sweden and ran up a long way into the land. He arrived there towards the middle of the summer, and made inquiries of the whereabouts of the woodland Frey. Hereabouts, they told him, he was not worshipped, though great tales were told of him which had shaken many, and moved some to go into the forest country to judge for themselves. They gave him certain information where that country was. He was to follow the course of the river up into the land. When it ran finer he would come to a good ford. On the west of that lay the country of the woodland Frey.
Sigurd set off on horseback with a good retinue, and made long journeys. In about ten days or a fortnight the river began to run brokenly; in a day more he should be at the ford. So it proved. The country ran flat in a broad valley, on the west of which, climbing gradually to the mountains, so far as the eye could see there was forest.
They kept a look-out for the ford, and presently a man of theirs, riding in front, topped, looked earnestly, and then held up his hand with a spear in it. They came up with him. "What is it you see?" Sigurd asked him.
"I see the ford," he said, "and I see also men fighting about it. And it seems to me that twenty are attacking a few."
Sigurd was looking as they all were. "What are those white animals I see on this bank?"
"They are oxen," said the look-out man.
"I see also a great wagon they have behind them. And I believe that Frey is in the wagon. What I marvel at is that he should be there at all and not among the fighters."
"Would Frey fight men?" he was asked.
"If he is what I believe him," said Sigurd, "he would gladly fight men."
They rode on cautiously, taking what cover they could, and came up within a bowshot of the fight. Then they saw that there were eight men against the twenty, of whom some were fallen into the river, and some fell even as they looked. Nevertheless, the greater party was prevailing. They had pushed back the eight to the close neighbourhood of the wagon, and it looked as if it would go hard with them. Frey, they could see, stood fixedly in the front of the cart with his crown on his head, and his cone and rod in his hands. Sigurd wondered at him, and could not think it was Gunnar.
But even while he thought, he saw Frey drop his cone and reach stealthily behind him. He found what he wanted and held it behind his back, staring all the while fixedly in front.
"Then all of a sudden Frey ... leaped from the cart into the midst of the fight."
Frey and his Wife] [Page 241
Then all of a sudden Frey roared aloud, making a terrible booming noise, and leaped from the cart into the midst of the fight. Sigurd now saw that he had in his right hand an axe, and remarked with pleasure how doughtily he laid about him with it, and how men fell before him. Frey kept up his roaring, which was like the noise of a great buzzing windmill, and seemed to paralyze his enemies, who gave back in confusion until they were at the water's edge.
"Now is our time," said Sigurd, and gave the order to set on.
So they did, with spears, and completed the rout. All the remnant of the assailants was slain. Then Sigurd turned him to Frey.
"This is the last of your miracles, brother," he said, "or the last but one. You had no need of us."
Gunnar turned upon him in wonderment. "Ah, it is you, Sigurd! I cry you hail!" Then they shook hands and embraced each other with great joy.
Gunnar told Sigurd that he had had suspicions of some such thing, "since the people on this side of the river have no love for Frey," and knew what a treasure he had in his wagon. He had prepared himself beforehand with a tolerable company; but the marauders were in greater force than he had thought for. "So it was needful for Frey himself to make an example of them."
Then Sigurd asked to be shown the treasure; "And they tell me, Gunnar, that you have more than gold and silver with you."
"So I have," said Gunnar, "as you shall see." He called Sigrid, who then came down from the cart and greeted Sigurd with gravity and timidity mingled. She stood very close to Gunnar all the time. Sigurd approved highly of her, and "I see that the crowning wonder of Frey's life on earth is to be accomplished in her." This he said to Gunnar when they were alone, and Gunnar did not deny it.
When they had eaten, drunken and rested themselves, Gunnar desired to know what had brought his brother adventuring into these wilds. Sigurd said, Well! he had heard rumours of Frey's doings which put him in mind of Gunnar. These had been spoken of in the king's council, and authority given to him to go out and satisfy himself. "And I may tell you," he continued, "that King Olaf's anger with you is over, and that you need not fear the sight of a tree any more. But we will talk about that another time. Let me see this fine treasure of yours which your magic has drawn from the Swedes."
Gunnar said, "I don't know that there was much magic about it. I gave them what they wanted, they gave me what I wanted. It seems a fair barter. And let me tell you, it is no light matter for me to be silent when men are feasting; and to fill up your nostrils with red paint every morning—that is worth its price also."
"But you had a pretty wife to talk with," said Sigurd.
"To be sure I had," Gunnar replied, "and a great to-do before I had her."
Sigrid brought out the treasure to show to Sigurd. He was amazed. "I had not believed there was so much gold and silver in Sweden," he said. Then he saw the cloths, the tissues of silk and linen, and the raiment. By and by he turned over the green and brown cloak which Gunnar had brought with him from Drontheim. "Here is a notable cloak," he said, "the like of which I have seen before."
"Have you though?" said Gunnar, and laughed. "That is Frey's own cloak, which I vowed to him when I took service under him, and long before I made palings of him."
Sigurd said, "Wait a little. I think I can match it." He went away to his company and came back with Gunnar's red-hooded cloak in his hands. "Here," he said, "is a fellow to it, somewhat tousled and time-worn. Do you know it?"
Gunnar handled it with affection. "That is an old friend which I never thought to see again," he said. "The last time I saw it, it was on the back of a dirty rascal."
Sigurd told him the tale of its recovery, and how a great stone had come up in the hood of it. Gunnar said, "I see it—but I saw it all at the time."
"I did not," said Sigurd, "but now I do. I shall keep both of these cloaks, by your leave," he said. "King Olaf requires to be convinced."
Gunnar said that he was ready to go back with his brother the way he had come, but that he would send Frey's wagon home across the ford. "If they need a new Frey," he said, "they will make one for themselves."
"There's a new Frey on the road," said Sigurd, "who would give them great satisfaction," but Gunnar said that he had had enough godship.
So they returned along the river road, and Sigrid had her first sight of the sea, and a taste of its quality.
THE END OF THE TALE