HALLGERD
Now I shall close his nostrils and his eyes,
And thereby take his blood-feud into my hands.
RANNVEIG
If you do stir I'll choke you with your hair.
I will not let your murderous mind be near him
When he no more can choose and does not know.
HALLGERD
His wife I was, and yet he never judged me:
He did not set your motherhood between us.
Let me alone—I stand here for my sons.
RANNVEIG
The wolf, the carrion bird, and the fair woman
Hurry upon a corpse, as if they think
That all is left for them the grey gods need not.
(She twines her hands in HALLGERD'S hair and draws her down to
the floor.)
Oh, I will comb your hair with bones and thumbs,
Array these locks in my right widow's way,
And deck you like the bed-mate of the dead.
Lie down upon the earth as Gunnar lies,
Or I can never match him in your looks
And whiten you and make your heart as cold.
HALLGERD
Mother, what will you do? Unloose me now—-
Your eyes would not look so at me alone.
RANNVEIG
Be still, my daughter….
HALLGERD
And then?
RANNVEIG
Ah, do not fear—
I see a peril nigh and all its blitheness.
Order your limbs—stretch out your length of beauty,
Let down your hands and close those deepening eyes,
Or you can never stiffen as you should.
A murdered man should have a murdered wife
When all his fate is treasured in her mouth.
This wifely hairpin will be sharp enough.