Call to the owl-friends.... Woe! Woe! Woe!
Astrid.
Whence came these mounds of dread to haunt the night?
It doubles this disquiet to have them near us.
Oddny.
They must be witches—and it was my distaff—
Will fire eat through me....
Steinvor. Or the Norns themselves.
Hallgerd.
Or bad old women used to govern by fear.
To bed, to bed—we are all up too late.
Steinvor, as she turns with Astrid and Oddny
to the daïs.
If beds are made for sleep we might sit long.
They go out by the daïs door.
Gunnar, as he enters hastily from the left.
Where are those women? There's some secret in them:
I have heard such others crying down to them.
Hallgerd.
They turned foul-mouthed, they beckoned evil toward us—
I drove them forth a breath ago.
Gunnar. Forth? Whence?
Hallgerd.
By the great door: they cried about the night.
Rannveig follows Gunnar in.
Gunnar.
Nay but I entered there and passed them not.
Mother, where are the women?
Rannveig. I saw none come.
Gunnar.
They have not come, they have gone.
Rannveig. I crossed the yard,
Hearing a noise, but a big bird dropped past,
Beating my eyes; and then the yard was clear.
The deep baying of the hound is heard again.
Gunnar.
They must be spies: yonder is news of them.
The wise hound knew them, and knew them again.
The baying is succeeded by one wild howl.
Nay, nay!
Men treat thee sorely, Samm my fosterling:
Even by death thou warnest—but it is meant
That our two deaths will not be far apart.
Rannveig.
Think you that men are yonder?
Gunnar. Men are yonder.
Rannveig.
My son, my son, get on the rattling war-woof,
The old grey shift of Odin, the hide of steel.
Handle the snake with edges, the fang of the rings.
Gunnar, going to the weapons by the high-seat.
There are not enough moments to get under
That heavy fleece: an iron hat must serve....
Hallgerd.
O brave! O brave!—he'll dare them with no shield.
Gunnar, lifting down the great bill from the wall.
Let me but reach this haft, I shall get hold
Of steel enough to fence me all about.
He shakes the bill above his head: a deep resonant humming follows. The daïs door is thrown open, and Oddny, Astrid, and Steinvor stream through in their night-clothes.
Steinvor. The bill!
Oddny. The bill is singing!
Astrid. The bill sings!
Gunnar, shaking the bill again.
Ay, brain-biter, waken ... Awake and whisper
Out of the throat of dread thy one brief burden.
Blind art thou, and thy kiss will do no choosing:
Worn art thou to a hair's grey edge, a nothing
That slips through all it finds, seeking more nothing.
There is a time, brain-biter, a time that comes
When there shall be much quietness for thee:
Men will be still about thee. I shall know.
It is not yet: the wind shall hiss at thee first.
Ahui! Leap up, brain-biter; sing again.
Sing! Sing thy verse of anger and feel my hands.
Rannveig.
Stand thou, my Gunnar, in the porch to meet them,
And the great door shall keep thy back for thee.
Gunnar.
I had a brother there. Brother, where are you....
Hallgerd.
Nay nay. Get thou, my Gunnar, to the loft,
Stand at the casement, watch them how they come.
Arrows maybe could drop on them from there.
Rannveig.
'Tis good: the woman's cunning for once is faithful.
Gunnar, turning again to the weapons.
'Tis good, for now I hear a foot that stumbles
Along the stable-roof against the hall.
My bow—where is my bow? Here with its arrows....
Go in again, you women on the daïs,
And listen at the casement of the bower
For men who cross the yard, and for their words.
Astrid.
O, Gunnar, we shall serve you.
Astrid, Oddny, and Steinvor go out by the daïs door.
Rannveig. Hallgerd, come;
We must shut fast the door, bar the great door,
Or they'll be in on us and murder him.
Hallgerd.
Not I: I'd rather set the door wide open
And watch my Gunnar kindling at the peril,
Keeping them back—shaming men for ever
Who could not enter at a gaping door.
Rannveig.
Bar the great door, I say, or I will bar it—
Door of the house you rule.... Son, son, command it.
Gunnar, as he ascends to the loft.
O, spendthrift fire, do you waft up again?
Hallgerd, what riot of ruinous chance will sate you?...
Let the door stand, my mother: it is her way.
He looks out of the casement.
Here's a red kirtle on the lower roof.
He thrusts with the bill through the casement.
A Man's Voice, far off. Is Gunnar within?
Thorgrim the Easterling's Voice, near the casement.
Find that out for yourselves:
I am only sure his bill is yet within.
A noise of falling is heard.
Gunnar.
The Easterling from Sandgil might be dying—
He has gone down the roof, yet no feet helped him.