V.
Shout and sing,
Till the mountains ring!
The father of men, and of gods the king!
See him advance
With sword and lance;
Billows of life-blood, heroes, bring!
VI.
God of Alhallah's dome!
God of the warrior's home!
Who can withstand thee in earth or heaven?
Bring to his altar then,
Of Christian dames and men,
Nine times nine, and seven times seven.
VII.
Bend to your place of birth,
Children of sordid earth;
The god of battles your homage disdains.
Who dare oppose him?
Christian or Moslem?
Who is like Odin, the god of the Danes?
The maids and their angelic guide went on following the cross; and as they went, they sung in sweet and humble aspirations the song of the Lamb. They met the gorgeous files. Fair met with fair. The hideous idols sat an hundred cubits high; whereas the cross a maiden's hand upbore. But when they met, the proud and mighty peal, swelling from Odin's worshippers, was hushed as with a sob. The hills rang with the sound; and the o'erburdened air bore the last knell up to the skies. It quavered through the spheres, and died in distance, to be heard no more, while nought but the sweet notes the virgins sung rose on the paths of night. The motely mass of heathens stood amazed, and as they stood they listened and they quaked. The words were these at which they paused, and which the virgins sung:
* * * * * *
Silence the blasphemers thee that defy,
Strike down the mighty, Son of the Most High;
Rise in thy power, that the heathen may see,
What dust are their gods and their glory to thee;
Raise thy right hand, and in pieces them shiver,
That to the true God may the praise be for ever.
At every line the bearers and their gods trembled the more, and as the last notes closed, the mighty Odin toppled from his throne, and crashed amid his powerless worshippers. His wooden spouse and son fell with the sire of Gods and men, and in a thousand pieces their gilded frames were dashed. Confusion reigned. The host fled in dismay; but Odin's priests sunk down in low prostration, groaning and howling for the fall of Odin,—the shield and glory of the Danish host.