He stood up very regally while they stood before him bareheaded. One man said a kind of a prayer, deprecating his anger; but Frey took no notice of him. Sigrid said, "Better get on as soon as may be. He will be hungry, and will do no work until he is satisfied." She got up into the wagon and sat beside Frey, and put her hand within his arm. The men urged the oxen down the road, and so they came to the village.
As soon as Sigrid saw the concourse which was out to meet them she drew the curtains, and was immediately in Gunnar's arms. But then, after that, she had to learn what were his intentions.
He said, "I will have no blood-offerings at all. If they must slay oxen and sheep, let it be for a good dinner. I will join them there and they shall be the better of it, as I shall be. But their offerings shall be gold or silver, or clothing, if they wish to serve me. Eggs, too, I will take, or cheese, or milk, or bread. Therefore, Sigrid, you must make them understand and more than that, you must drive it into the head of the man you choose for priest, that blood-sacrifices are an abomination to me."
She promised him that she would see to it all; and so they came into the village with the people flocking about them. When they had taken up their place and the oxen had been unyoked, fed and watered, Sigrid took the headmen apart and told them the mind of Frey. They were disappointed. They said that they had many victims whom they were anxious to dispose of, and not much gold or silver at any rate, and none which they could spare. They hoped therefore that Frey would accept of the accustomed sacrifice, which was a great interest to the people.
Sigrid said, "I see how it is. You wish to glut yourself at Frey's charge, and to rid yourself of what you don't want, nor Frey neither. But Frey knows this better than you do, and is not to be deceived. You will find out very soon that I am right."
They said that he should have eggs, bread, cheese and milk, and went away very discontented.
The hour of the sacrifice was now at hand. Trestles and boards were laid before the wagon to hold up the altar and to make degrees of approach to it. Then when songs had been sung and prayers offered, Sigrid drew the curtains apart and revealed Frey to them.
They brought baskets of bread, cheeses in the round, milk and eggs. With a bearer of eggs Frey worked his first miracle.
A certain man came up with a basketful of eggs; there may have been two dozen of them. He knelt before Frey in his place in the row, waiting his turn. Gunnar, watching him, saw him fingering the eggs while he waited, turning them over, lifting one and weighing it in his hands. Presently he saw him take two from the basket and slip them in his pocket. When he put his hand to them again Frey brought his budded staff smartly down upon the back of it, and smashed it into his eggs. The man gave a yell, and fell down upon his face. All the rest shrank away in consternation, and there was great commotion down below. The man, sobbing and blubbering, drew out of his pocket the stolen eggs. Never had been such a miracle as this within the memory of man. The immediate effect of it was to bring out treasure to the shrine. Women brought their marriage crowns, men their rings and armlets. Fine cloth was offered and stuff embroidered with silk and gold. In the evening there was a feast, to which Frey himself came, and to their wonder and satisfaction ate and drank with the best. He said little; but he listened, and nodded his head when he was pleased, or knit his brows when he was angry. Next day he was drawn in his wagon to their closes and fields, and blessed them all very graciously. He gave them to understand through his wife that by banking up a torrent they could easily turn it and make a head of water enough to keep the pasture green all the summer through. Another thing he told them was how to make conduit-pipes of the split trunks of trees, hollowed out. All these things were wonderful, and carried the name and fame of Frey before him. The offerings poured into his treasury; he was rich, and had no more trouble with blood-sacrifices. By the end of the sowing season Frey was so rich that the wagon would scarcely hold him, his wife and the treasure. He talked to Sigrid about it, and said, "Sweetheart, I am thinking that we should do well to have a bodyguard before we get into our own country."
Sigrid, who was sitting on his knee at the time, said that no one would dare to attack Frey; but Gunnar nodded his head. "Fame is a strange thing," he told her; "it takes the guise that is most in men's fancy. Now for one man who has heard report of our miracles, there will be twenty who know that we have a full treasury. I am minded to have a guard before we cross the river and come into the parts where we are known best. And do you know what I am thinking is going to be the crown of Frey's achievement?"