The love she will remember.”
Thus died in middle life one of the greatest of the Norse scalds. His had been a “troublous” life indeed. The duties of the scald were to improvise poetry on the instant, in praise of the King and in recounting the deeds of his favorite warriors in battle. He was the historian and the periodical at the same time; his utterances were respected and he was feared by prince and peasant. The scald had liberties at court and in the royal camp or on board the royal fighting ship not accorded to any other retainer.
CHAPTER XVI
REYKHOLT
“I think that I would wander far to view
Such scenes as these, for they would fill a heart
That lothes the commerce of this wretched world,
That sickens at its hollow gaieties.”