d to Upsala.

And many will now believe that Halfred had a great struggle and much
difficulty to overcome King Hartstein and his daughter, and will expect
to hear how it came to pass.

But there is nothing to tell; for everything went easily and quickly
with him, according to his wishes, which the heathen people again
boasted had been thus arranged by Oski.

King Hartstein was, in general, a flinty-hearted man, full of
suspicion, and short of speech. When, however, he saw Halfred, and
called to him as he entered his hall, and drew near to the throne, and
asked him--"Stranger, what desirest thou in Tiunderland, and of King
Hartstein?"--And when Halfred, with that smile which Oski had bestowed
upon him, looked into the fierce eyes, and joyously replied--"The best
will I have that Tiunderland and King Hartstein possess--his daughter."
Then the grim old man was at once won, and in his secret heart he
wished that Halfred might be his son-in-law.

And then they went out to the court for the hammer-throwing, and the
King threw well, but Halfred threw far better, and thus the first trial
was won.

"Harder will thou find the second," said the old man, and led Halfred
to the Skemma, the chamber of the women, where the breaker of men's
wits, in a shining dark blue mantle, sat among her maidens, a head
taller than any of them.

And they say that when Halfred entered the chamber, and his glance fell
upon her, a hot tremor passed over her, and a sudden glow dyed her
cheeks crimson, and confused her.

Certain it is that with a golden spindle, with which she had played
rather than spun, she pricked her finger, and let it fall with a
clatter.

But Sudha, the foremost of her maidens, the captive daughter of the
King of Halogaland, who sat at her right hand, picked up the spindle,
and held it. And many interpreted this later, as a bad omen. At the
time, however, it was hardly observed.

And Vandrad the Skald said later to Halfred, that the woman had
been elf-struck at the first sight of him: but he thereupon said
earnestly--"It had been better had I been elf-struck at sight of her;
but I remained unwounded."

And forthwith King Hartstein assembled all his courtiers, and the women
of the castle, and the guests, in the hall, for the riddle solving.

And Harthild arose from the arm chair at his right hand, and her face
grew crimson as she looked at Halfred, which--as they declare--had
never before happened to her at the challe