"Bravely he slashes
Odin's red letters,
Blood-runes of heroes, on arm and on breast.
Brightly the splashes
Of life's flowing fetters
Drip from the silver of hair-covered chest."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
When this ceremony was finished, Sigurd Ring laid Ingeborg's hand in Frithiof's, and, once more commending her to the young hero's loving care, closed his eyes and breathed his last.
[Sidenote: Betrothal of Frithiof and Ingeborg.] All the nation assembled to raise a mound for Sigurd Ring; and by his own request the funeral feast was closed by a banquet to celebrate the betrothal of Ingeborg and Frithiof. The latter had won the people's enthusiastic admiration; but when they would fain have elected him king, Frithiof raised Sigurd Ring's little son up on his shield and presented him to the assembled nobles as their future king, publicly swearing to uphold him until he was of age to defend himself. The child, weary of his cramped position on the shield, boldly sprang to the ground as soon as Frithiof's speech was ended, and alighted upon his feet. This act of daring in so small a child was enough to win the affection and admiration of all his rude subjects.
According to some accounts, Frithiof now made war against Ingeborg's brothers, and after conquering them, allowed them to retain their kingdom only upon condition of their paying him a yearly tribute. Then he and Ingeborg remained in Ringric until the young king was able to assume the government, when they repaired to Hordaland, a kingdom Frithiof had obtained by conquest, and which he left to his sons Gungthiof and Hunthiof.
[Sidenote: Frithiofs vision.] But according to Tegnér's poem, Frithiof, soon after his second betrothal to Ingeborg, made a pious pilgrimage to his father's resting place, and while seated on the latter's funeral mound, plunged in melancholy and remorse at the sight of the desolation about him, he was favored by a vision of a new temple, more beautiful than the first, within whose portals he beheld the three Norns.
"And lo! reclining on their runic shields
The mighty Nornas now the portal fill;
Three rosebuds fair which the same garden yields,
With aspect serious, but charming still.
Whilst Urda points upon the blackened fields,
The fairy temple Skulda doth reveal.
When Frithiof first his dazzled senses cleared,
Rejoiced, admired, the vision disappeared."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
The hero immediately understood that the gods had thus pointed out to him a means of atonement, and spared neither wealth nor pains to restore Balder's temple and grove, which soon rose out of the ashes in more than their former splendor.
When the temple was all finished, and duly consecrated to Balder's service, Frithiof received Ingeborg at the altar from her brothers' hands, and ever after lived on amicable terms with them.
"Now stepped Halfdan in
Over the brazen threshold, and with wistful look
Stood silent, at a distance from the dreaded one.
Then Frithiof loosed the Harness-hater from his thigh,
Against the altar placed the golden buckler round,
And forward came unarmed to meet his enemy:
'In such a strife,' thus he commenced, with friendly voice,
'The noblest he who first extends the hand of peace.'
Then blushed King Halfdan deep, and drew his gauntlet off,
And long-divided hands now firmly clasped each other,
A mighty pressure, steadfast as the mountain's base.
The old man then absolved him from the curse which lay
Upon the Varg i Veum,[1] on the outlawed man.
And as he spake the words, fair Ingeborg came in,
Arrayed in bridal dress, and followed by fair maids,
E'en as the stars escort the moon in heaven's vault.
Whilst tears suffused her soft and lovely eyes, she fell
Into her brother's arms, but deeply moved he led
His cherished sister unto Frithiof's faithful breast,
And o'er the altar of the god she gave her hand
Unto her childhood's friend, the darling of her heart."
TEGNÉR, Frithiof Saga (Spalding's tr.).
[Footnote 1: Wolf in the sanctuaries.]