"Brow of creation,
Thou North sublime!
I have no station
Within thy clime.
Proud, hence descended
My race I tell;
Of heroes splendid,
Fond nurse, farewell!
My love false-hearted,
My manor burned,
My name departed,
An outlaw, spurned,
I now appealing
From earth, will dwell
With waves, for healing.
Farewell, farewell!"[39]
[39] Sherman's translation.
Frithjof now roams for many years over the sea as a viking, and gains much booty and honor. His viking code, with its swift anapestic rhythm, has a breezy melody which sings in the ear. It is an attempt to embody the ethics of Norse warfare at its best, and to present in the most poetic light the rampant, untamable individualism of the ancient Germanic paganism. In defiance of his friend Björn's advice, Frithjof, weary of this bootless chase for glory and pelf, resolves to see Ingeborg once more before he dies, and, disguised as a salt-boiler, he enters King Ring's hall. There he sees his beloved sitting in the high-seat beside her aged lord; and the sorrow which the years had dulled revives with an exquisite agony. He punishes with fierce promptitude one of the King's men who insults him; and his answer to the King's rebuke betrays him as a man of rank and station. He then throws away his disguise, without, however, revealing his name, but Ingeborg instantly recognizes him.
"Then even to her temples the queen's deep blushes sped,
As when the northlight tinges the snow-clad fields with red,
And like two full-blown lilies on racking waves which rest,
With ill-concealed emotion so heaved her throbbing breast."
The king now invites the stranger, who calls himself Thjof, to remain his guest during the winter, and Frithjof accepts. He makes, however, no approach to Ingeborg, with whom he scarcely exchanges a single word. During a sleigh-ride on the ice he saves, by a tremendous feat of strength, the life of the king and queen. With the coming of the spring preparations are made for a grand chase, in which Frithjof participates.
"Spring is coming, birds are twittering, forests leaf, and smiles the sun;
And the loosened torrents downward singing to the ocean run;
Glowing like the cheek of Freya, peeping rosebuds 'gin to ope,
And in human hearts awaken love of life and joy and hope."
The canto called "The Temptation" contains the most dramatic and altogether the most beautiful situation in the poem. The old king, feigning weariness, begs Frithjof to tarry with him alone, while he takes a rest. Frithjof tries to dissuade him, but in vain.
"Then threw Frithjof down his mantle, and upon the green sward spread;
And the ancient king, so trustful, laid on Frithjof's knee his head;
Slept as calmly as the hero sleepeth after war's alarms
On his shield, calm as an infant slumbers in its mother's arms."