Reassured by this reasoning, Ingeborg no longer refused to see and converse with Frithiof; and during the kings' absence the young lovers met every day, and plighted their troth with Volund's ring, which Ingeborg solemnly promised to send back to her lover should she break her promise to live for him alone. Frithiof lingered there until the kings' return, when, for love of Ingeborg the fair, he again appeared before them, and pledged himself to free them from their thraldom to Sigurd Ring if they would only reconsider their decision and promise him their sister's hand.
"'War is abroad,
And strikes his echoing shield within our borders;
Thy crown and land, King Helgé, are in danger;
Give me thy sister's hand, and I will use
Henceforth my warlike force in thy defense.
Let then the wrath between us be forgotten,
Unwillingly I strive 'gainst Ingborg's brother.
Secure, O king, by one fraternal act
Thy golden crown and save thy sister's heart.
Here is my hand. By Thor, I ne'er again
Present it here for reconciliation.'"
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
[Sidenote: Frithiof in disgrace.] But although this offer was hailed with rapture by the assembled warriors, it was again scornfully rejected by Helgé, who declared that he would have granted it had not Frithiof proved himself unworthy of all confidence by defiling the temple of the gods. Frithiof tried to defend himself; but as he had to plead guilty to the accusation of having conversed with Ingeborg at Balder's shrine, he was convicted of having broken the law, and, in punishment therefor, condemned to sail off to the Orkney Islands to claim tribute from the king, Angantyr.
Before he sailed, however, he once more sought Ingeborg, and vainly tried to induce her to elope with him by promising her a home in the sunny south, where her happiness should be his law, and where she should rule over his subjects as his honored wife. Ingeborg sorrowfully refused to accompany him, saying that, since her father was no more, she was in duty bound to obey her brothers implicitly, and could not marry without their consent.
"'But Helgé is my father,
Stands in my father's place; on his consent
Depends my hand, and Belé's daughter steals not
Her earthly happiness, how near it be.'"
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
After a heartrending parting scene, Frithiof embarked upon Ellida, and sorrowfully sailed out of the harbor, while Ingeborg wept at his departure. When the vessel was barely out of sight, Helgé sent for two witches named Heid and Ham, bidding them begin their incantations, and stir up such a tempest at sea that it would be impossible for even the god-given vessel Ellida to withstand its fury, and all on board would perish. The witches immediately complied; and with Helgé's aid they soon stirred up a storm unparalleled in history.
"Helgé on the strand
Chants his wizard-spell,
Potent to command
Fiends of earth or hell.
Gathering darkness shrouds the sky;
Hark, the thunder's distant roll!
Lurid lightnings, as they fly,
Streak with blood the sable pole.
Ocean, boiling to its base,
Scatters wide its wave of foam;
Screaming, as in fleetest chase,
Sea-birds seek their island home."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Longfellow's tr.).
[Sidenote: The tempest.] In spite of tossing waves and whistling blasts, Frithiof sang a cheery song to reassure his frightened crew; but when the peril grew so great that his exhausted men gave themselves up for lost, he bade Björn hold the rudder, and himself climbed up to the mast top to view the horizon. While perched up there he descried a whale, upon which the two witches were riding at ease. Speaking to his good ship, which was gifted with the power of understanding and obeying his words, he now ran down both witches and whale, and the sea was reddened with their blood. No sooner had they sunk than the wind fell, the waves ceased to heave and toss as before, and soon fair weather again smiled over the seas.
"Now the storm has flown,
The sea is calm awhile;
A gentle swell is blown
Against the neighboring isle.
"Then at once the sun arose,
Like a king who mounts his throne,
Vivifies the world and throws
His light on billow, field, and stone.
His new-born beams adorn awhile
A dark green grove on rocky top,
All recognize a sea-girt isle,
Amongst the distant Orkney's group."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).