“Nothing better has occurred for a long time,” said Ivar. “Let us, foster-brothers, welcome the event, though it causes great sorrow to the Hersir of Svithjod.”
Then he took Astrid in his arms, and carried her to the door of the hall, and laid her in the arms of the dead Hjalmar, and then went to tell Yngvi of the death of his daughter.
When Yngvi came out, he saw, with profound grief, the sad scene before him, and he mourned greatly the deaths of his daughter Astrid and of Hjalmar.
A large mortuary chamber was built for Hjalmar and Astrid; a bed of down was laid on the floor, and upon it was put a pillow for them to rest their heads upon. They were not to be burned, for there were many since the death of Frey who did not wish to have a burning journey to the world they were going to. Hjalmar was dressed in his finest war clothes, clad in his pierced armor, his shield placed on his breast, and his sword by his side. Astrid was laid by him in the white bridal dress intended for her wedding, decked with costly jewels. Then a high mound was built over them.
Hjalmar the Brave, and Astrid the Fair, lay silently, side by side, in the embrace of death. Their grave stands to-day by the granite shores of the Baltic, looking silently out upon the ships that sail to and fro on that sea they loved so much; the wind and the murmur of the waves sing a continuous requiem over them. Every year when June returns, its soft and fragrant breezes, passing over fields, meadows, and pine forests, blow over them. Butterflies and bees, rejoicing in the sunshine that brings new life, flit over the flowers growing upon their graves, and birds sing their love-songs by their side, just as in the days of old Hjalmar and Astrid sang theirs.
We are born, we grow, we love, we die. Love is the best of gifts that has been given to us; then friendship, the foster-brother of love. Astrid has gone to live with the virgin goddess Gefjon, upon whom all those who die maidens wait. Hjalmar went to Valhalla, and from there he sees his beloved every day.
Ivar, Sigurd, and Sigmund mourned greatly the death of Hjalmar, and there have never been within the memory of man four men more attached to one another. For a long while they felt their irreparable loss, but time assuaged their sorrows as the years passed away; but the remembrance of the noble qualities of Hjalmar came to cheer them, and at every sacrifice and feast, when they drank to the memory of departed kinsmen, the name of Hjalmar the Brave was always remembered by them. The people to this day love to tell the story of Hjalmar and Astrid.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE WEDDING OF IVAR AND RANDALIN
About a year after the sad events just recorded, the day of the union of Ivar and Randalin approached. Great preparations were made in Upsalir for their wedding. The most costly tapestries that had been embroidered by the successive wives and daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had been taken out from the store-rooms where they had been sacredly kept, for these were only used for adorning the walls of the halls at weddings. Many of them represented romantic episodes in the courtship of the maidens who had embroidered them. Likewise the bridal bench ornamented with gold and silver and with rich carvings was brought out. How many beautiful daughters of the Hersirs of Svithjod had been seated upon those benches since Upsalir had been founded! What an array of illustrious maidens could be named! What a history could be told to us of the race descended from them! What a diversity of character and temper these women possessed! But, in despite of that splendor of life, many a young heart had been disappointed, for their union had not proved as congenial and as happy as they expected. Many of the girlish visions and dreams which belong to youth had not been fulfilled as they had hoped. The Nornir had woven a thick mist before their eyes to hide the future. Many had found that station, fame, wealth, and power did not give happiness, and had often envied the merry laughter that came from the house of the humble, and even from the cabin of the slave.