Havelok the Dane: A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln

by Charles W. Whistler

In the grey of the morning the first of the chiefs to whom the arrow had sped began to come in; but the jarl would not have Havelok waked, for he was greatly troubled at the little wounds that had befallen this long-waited guest. So the chiefs gathered very silently in the great hall, and sat waiting while the light broadened and shone, gleam by gleam, on their bright arms and anxious faces. It was not possible for those who had not yet seen Havelok to be all so sure that it was indeed he. They longed to see him, and to know him for the very son of Gunnar for themselves.

Presently there were maybe twenty chiefs in the hall—men who had fought beside Kirkeban, and men who had been boys with Havelok, and some who had known his grandfather—and the jarl thought that it was time that they had the surety that they needed, for time went on, and there was certainty that Hodulf must hear of all this morning. One could not expect that no man would earn reward by warning him.

So Sigurd went softly to the place where Havelok lay in the little guest chamber that opened out of the inner room that was the jarl’s own, and he slid the boards that closed it apart gently and looked in to wake him. But instead of doing that, he came back to the hall and beckoned the chiefs, and they rose and followed him silently. And when they went Raven went also, without a word, that he might be near his charge while these many strangers spoke with him.

Now Sigurd stood at the spot where the little shifting of the sliding board made it possible to see within the chamber, and one by one the chiefs came and peered through the chink for a moment, and stood aside for the next. And it was wondrous to see how each man went and looked with doubt or wonder or just carelessly, and then turned away with a great light of joy on his face and a new life in the whole turn and sway of the body.

It was dark in the chamber, save for the dim spaces under the eaves that let in the sweet air from the sea to the sleepers. But from somewhere aloft, where the timbering of the upper walls toward the east had shrunk, so that there was a little hole that faced the newly-risen sun, came the long shaft of a sunbeam that pierced the darkness like a glorious spear, and lit on the mighty shoulder of Havelok that lay bare of covering, and on the white hand of Goldberga that was across it. And on the one they saw the crimson bent-armed cross that was the mark of the line whence he and his father had sprung, and on the other glowed and flashed the blood-red stone of the ring of Eleyn the queen. And round that circle of sunshine was light enough for the chiefs to see those two noble faces, and they were content.

“Gunnar’s son,” said one old chief: “but were he only the son of Grim, for those twain would I die.”

So the warriors crept back to the hall silently as they had come; and now they went out to their men and told them that all doubt had gone, and along the road that led to Hodulf’s town the jarl sent mounted men to watch for his coming. And always fresh men were pouring in, and among them went the chiefs who had seen Havelok, and told them the news.

Now it was not long before there was a gathering of all the chiefs in the hall of Sigurd, that they might break their fast, and then they saw Havelok as he led in the princess to meet them. He stood on the high place in his arms, and a shout of greeting went up; and when it was over, Sigurd asked him to tell all that had happened to him; and he did that in as few words as might be, for he was no great speaker, though what he did say was always to the point, and left little to be asked.

And when he had ended, there rose up a grey-headed old chief, and said, “Give this warrior the horn of Gunnar, that we may hear him wind it. I would not say that unless I were sure that he was the right man to have it.”

Now I stood beside Havelok, and while Sigurd went from the hall to some treasure chamber to get this that had been asked for, I said to him, “Mind you the day when we met Ragnar. and a call came into your dream? Wind that call now; for, if I am not wrong, it will be welcome to those who knew your father.”