"Your souls were going hence, daughter of the Snake; they as yet knew only the earth-life. I spoke of those who have crossed over the glittering way, and then come again to Manheim. Hel holds with a firm grip those who go to her. Not many fare back who have set foot beyond the wall of Loki's daughter."
"The son of Thorbiorn would have his hostess tell of deeds forbidden under the laws of Karl. Does not the Christian king doom to the mire-death those who practise spells? Ai! not all have forgotten my hut in the Moselle Wood, and the curse which I put upon those whom I left behind."
"By the fiend Odin!" broke in Rudulf; "that was an ill-doing, wife. Yet if the good queen has gone hence, and Pepin Crookback become a witling, our guest will tell you that young Karl bids fair to fill his father's sword-belt, and our daughter, the queen, goes clad in silk and gold."
"Your daughter,--the false trull,--not mine!" hissed the woman. "As to her luck, good or ill, have you forgotten my boding when this bright gerfalcon flew out of the South to seek our leave for his wooing? 'A king, grey of eye,' was my foretelling, and so it has chanced. But again I gave my boding, as I fared from the hut into the storm, and again my word has come true. The queen your daughter sits in her silken bower, and her heart lies as a stone in her breast. With a touch she bends the iron Karl to her bidding; yet power and wealth are become as ashes in her mouth. There is wormwood in her drink, and gall in her dainty fare. Do I speak truth, gerfalcon?"
"I would say nothing against the dame of my lord," answered Olvir.
"Yet she has brought you little else than sorrow and evil."
"She has not turned the king's heart against me. I hold his pledge. Each day I look for his bidding to come to him."
"You have not heard, son of Thorbiorn! Your ears are duller than I thought. Karl went north from Paderborn, not Rhineward. He is now upon the Elbe bank."
"I have heard, dame. It seems that my wait is to be a little longer."
"You take the ill tidings calmly, hero. Will you laugh in joy when I tell you that Karl is minded to break his pledge to you?"