“Ride him round the house!” cried Helga, growing pale at the mere idea. “Ride Gullfaxi! Why father would never, never forgive me, if I let you do that.”
“But it can’t do him any harm,” argued Sigurd; “you don’t know how careful I will be. I have ridden all sorts of horses at home, and have never fallen off not once. Oh, Helga, do!”
“Well, perhaps, if you come back directly,” replied Helga, doubtfully; “but you must be very quick, or father will find out!”
But, instead of mounting Gullfaxi, as she expected, Sigurd stood still.
“And the sword,” he said, looking fondly up to the place where it hung. “My father is a king, but he has not got any sword so beautiful as that. Why, the jewels in the scabbard are more splendid than the big ruby in his crown! Has it got a name? Some swords have, you know.”
“It is called ‘Gunnfjoder,’ the ‘Battle Plume,’” answered Helga, “and ‘Gullfaxi’ means ‘Golden Mane.’ I don’t suppose, if you are to get on the horse at all, it would matter your taking the sword too. And if you take the sword you will have to carry the stick and the stone and the twig as well.”
“They are easily carried,” said Sigurd, gazing at them with scorn; “what wretched dried-up things! Why in the world do you keep them?”
“Bather says that he would rather lose Gullfaxi than lose them,” replied Helga, “for if the man who rides the horse is pursued he has only to throw the twig behind him and it will turn into a forest, so thick that even a bird could hardly fly through. But if his enemy happens to know magic, and can throw down the forest, the man has only to strike the stone with the stick, and hailstones as large as pigeons’ eggs will rain down from the sky and will kill every one for twenty miles round.”
Having said all this she allowed Sigurd to ride “just once” round the house, taking the sword and other things with him. But when he had ridden round, instead of dismounting, he suddenly turned the horse’s head and galloped away.
Soon after this Helga’s father came home and found his daughter in tears. He asked what was the matter, and when he heard all that had happened, he rushed off as fast as he could to pursue Sigurd.