“Sigurd the skald am I,” answered the man, “and this is Gyda, my daughter, who is a seid woman. A gleemaiden, thou sayest, in search of shelter? Then hie with us to the dwelling of Hakon the jarl who hath a feast to-night. Much glee will there be, for Gyda doth tell each and every one his fate.”
“What would a Saxon gleemaiden in the halls of Hakon the jarl?” cried Egwina, knowing not how to be rid of her companions.
“It will be music to his heart,” answered the skald. “Little doth he reck whether thou beest Saxon or Dane so that thou dost make merry. Join us, for sibbe are all gleemen and maidens whether they be skalds of the Norseman, bards of the Welsh, or scops or gleemen of the Saxon. But thou art alone, girl? Why travelest thou so?”
“There is naught else to do,” answered she. Then, continuing after a slight pause, “My grandfather and I for many years wandered the length and breadth of the land. Now doth he lie dead, and alone do I follow the harp.”
“Thy grandfather! Alack! He was old then?” Sigurd declared rather than questioned. “’Tis pity that Hela the death goddess comes to us all. Methinks the Æsir should have bestowed the apples of Iduna upon man that he might eat and be young again.”
“Iduna? The apples?” Egwina looked bewildered. “Be not wroth, good Sigurd, but I understand not what thou meanest.”
“Hast not heard of Iduna?” asked the skald in surprise.
“Is she not a Saxon?” sneered Gyda, the seid woman, speaking for the first time. “And are not the Saxons Christians? She hath been too busy with mass and priest to have heard of Iduna.”
“Then shall she be enlightened,” cried Sigurd, while Egwina looked hastily away from the coal-black eyes of the seid woman. Their gaze filled her with a sort of nameless terror. Inviting she was not in aspect, as was Gunnehilde in the forest, and involuntarily the girl crossed herself. The woman’s eyes glittered as she saw the action, but she made no comment.
“Iduna,” went on the skald, “lived in Asgard, the city of the Æsir. To her care was given the apples of youth, which gave strength again to the body, and color and light to face and eyes. She kept them in a casket and never were they renewed. When the Æsir had need of them, she drew forth from the case the apples which were small as peas until her hands touched them. Others took the place of those taken out, so that the casket was never empty. Always was it filled, and none knew whence they came.