CHAPTER XVII
THE INHERITANCE FEAST OF HJORVARD
After the death of his father, Ivar did not become the Hersir of Gotland before the Thing, or assembly, of the people had ratified his hersirship; for though it was hereditary, no one could rule without the consent of the Thingmen, who could, when occasion became necessary, deprive a man of his dignity and of his hersirship, for the Hersir had to obey the laws as well as the humblest man of the land, and the greatest power of the land was the Thing.
Before assuming the dignity of Hersir, and consequently that of High Priest of Gotland, Ivar made a sacrifice before the people, and according to ancient custom, he killed a ram, reddening his hands in its blood, and then declared the godship of Hjorvard to be his; after this ceremony he was to rule over the sacrifices at Dampstadir.
He remained at home waiting till the “arvel,” or inheritance feast, of his father had taken place, for he could not get his inheritance before that time. According to ancient custom, the inheritance feast had to be made during the year in which the person died for whom the inheritance feast was made, and the man who gave it could not occupy the high seat of him from whom he inherited until the “arvel” was drunk. Hjorvard, being of Odin’s family and a powerful Hersir, the feast was to be of great splendor. Ivar and his kinsmen decided that it should take place ten months after Hjorvard’s burning journey. Ivar sent ships and messengers all over the Viking lands to bid high-born men and kinsmen to come and make the feast with him, and arrange that all possible honor should be paid to Hjorvard, his father.
According to ancient laws, the high seat of Hjorvard was to remain vacant until the “arvel” should take place. When warriors gathered into the hall, the empty high seat of the departed Hersir and great Viking chief reminded them of their absent friend, who had so many times drunk with them, and with whom they had gone to war and won victory and wealth. In the evenings the scalds, who had been with him in all his fights, recited before the assembled guests the great deeds he had accomplished, and which they had seen as they looked upon the contending foemen from the shield-burg, or wall of shields, that surrounded them and the standards. They told of many fatal combats between champion and champion, or between ship and ship that had grappled each other, and how Hjorvard had twice, during his life, cleared of warriors the decks of two ships.
Things followed the even tenor of their way in Dampstadir. Sigrlin continued to superintend the estate, as she had done in her husband’s time when he was on Viking expeditions. Ivar helped her, and saw that the ships were kept in perfect order and well tarred and painted, and that new ones were built. The slaves, dressed in their white woollen coarse stuff, with short cropped hair, were busy with the different tasks assigned to them, and the free servants attended to their work.
Ivar himself superintended the cultivation of the lands, for he was a good husbandman, and sometimes was seen forging a sword, or superintending the construction of a ship. As a pastime, he often played chess with the old land defenders of his father, or went hawking, but above all, he loved to sit on Hjorvard’s mound; from there he contemplated the sea. The paths which every ship had made, ploughing its way, were unseen, and for this reason one of the figurative names given to the sea by the Norsemen was the Unseen Path.
One day, as Ivar was seated with Hjalmar on the mound of Hjovard, and was in one of his meditative moods, he said: “After all, Hjalmar, a man is not utterly unhappy, even though he be in ill health; some are happy in sons or in daughters, some in kinsmen, some in much wealth, some in good deeds, and some in friends. To his friend a man should be a friend, to him and to his friend, but no man should be the friend of his enemy’s friend. If thou hast a friend whom thou trustest well, and if thou wilt get good from him, thou must blend thoughts with him, and go often and meet him. Be never the first to forsake the company of thy friends; sorrow eats the heart of him who cannot tell all his mind to one. I was young once, I travelled, and missed my way. When I met another man I thought myself wealthy. Man is the delight of man. The fir tree withers that stands on a fenced field; neither bark nor foliage shelters it. Thus is a man whom no one loves. Why should he live long? Brand is kindled from brand, till it is burned out. Fire is kindled from fire. A man gets knowledge by talking with man. It is long out of one’s way to go to one you do not like, though he lives near by; but to a good friend there are short paths, though he be far off. I came much too early to many places, and too late to some; the ale was drunk, or it was unbrewed. An unwelcome man seldom finds the ale ready.”
Then he added: “A homestead is best, though it be small; for a man is at home there, though he have but two goats and a straw-thatched house. We contemplate many a humble dwelling from here; in many of these happiness and joy are to be found—more so, almost always, than in the halls of the wealthy. The fire and the sight of the sun are the best things among the sons of men; then his good health and a blameless life, if he can keep them.”
Ivar had taken great pains that nothing should be wanting to make the “arvel” of his father more famous than any one that had taken place in the Norseland within the memory of man. He had had two large festive halls built for a great number of guests who were coming. Nothing had been spared to give wide-spread fame to the arvel, which was to last two weeks.