“Sainted mother be with me!” murmured the girl under her breath.
“Knowest thou the fate songs, maiden?” asked Gyda.
“Nay; I am a Christian,” answered the maiden simply.
“Then will I teach thee,” remarked Gyda. “If thou hast a good voice thou couldst he useful to me in singing the spell songs; for few they be that know them. Listen, and thou shalt hear one now.”
“Nay; rather let me hear more of thy tales,” and Egwina looked appealingly at the skald. “Well dost thou tell them, and I wonder not that thou art welcome where there is glee.”
“Thou shalt hear them then,” cried Sigurd, flattered by her words. “Later, daughter, canst thou use her for thy art. Now let her listen to mine, for I have need to refresh my memory. Wise is she in the lore of our craft; for a daughter of a skald, and a skald maiden is she. Then knowest thou, maiden, how Skadi, the daughter of Thyassi Jötun, came to Asgard to avenge her father?”
“No; I know but the tales of my own people,” said Egwina, rejoiced that she was not obliged to listen to the spell songs of the seid woman.
“Listen then! All Asgard rejoiced at the death of Thyassi Jötun, when Skadi, his daughter, took helmet and brynja (shield), and a complete war dress, and came to Asgard to avenge her father. The Æsir offered her reconciliation and a weregeld, but first that she might choose from among them a husband. Then was the heart of Skadi made glad, for a live husband is better than a dead father; so she consented to the reconciliation.
“The Æsir could not agree among themselves as to which one she should take, so they made Skadi choose from among them, not seeing more than the feet. They stood behind a large curtain, and only their feet could be seen below it. Now Skadi wished very much to have Baldur, the beautiful, for a husband, so she looked very carefully at the feet, and chose the most beautiful pair, saying, ‘This one I choose. Few things can be ugly in Baldur.’
“But it was not Baldur at all, but Njord, the old one, whom she had chosen. Then did the Æsir laugh and exult. Skadi was angry, but she was fain to abide by her choice, for she alone had done the choosing.”