mid-day meal, Sudha glided softly through
the doorway, and stood before him, and spoke--

"Halfred, skill in song, victory and fame have been thine for
twenty years.
A wife hast thou had for one year--an heir shalt thou have but now.
But never hast thou known Freya's gift--Love's Fulness--
Contradict me not--thine eye shuns Dame Harthild's seeking glance;
And when thou dreamingly sweepest the strings of thy harp,
thou gazest
Not in Dame Harthild's cold hard face, but upwards towards
the stars.
Halfred, not in the clouds dwelleth that for which thou yearnest.
Not from the stars shall it float down upon thee; upon the
earth it wanders,
It is a woman, who with love's charm, with woman's magic,
can subdue the Singing Swan--
Woe to thee if thou never findest her--
What though thou win all fame with sword and harp--the
best is still denied thee.
Askest thou what maketh me so wise, and withal so daring?
Love, love's fulness for thee, thou rich yet poor Sigskald.
Behold, I am but a woman--a captive--but I tell thee there
is heroism even for women.
I have sworn by the infernal gods, as I crossed thy threshold,
that here, in Iceland, I will win thy love, or die."

Then Halfred arose from his couch, and spoke--

"Wisdom and madness mingled hast thou spoken. There speaks from
thee more than Sudha. There speaks a soul stricken of the gods.
Horror and compassion seize upon me. I will demand thy
freedom from King Hartstein. Then journey homewards to Halagoland.
There mayest thou find happiness in the arms of some valiant hero.
But here, let Dame Harthild's rights and hearth be sacred
unto thee. Disturb not her happiness."

And he seized his spear and strode out. But Sudha cried after him, so
that he still heard her--"Her happiness? Long has she divined her
misery. Soon shall she clearly perceive, the haughty one, that she is
more unspeakably wretched than Sudha."

Then, the evening of the same day, she called to her Vandrad the Skald,
who still always cherished great love for her, to the well in the
court, as though she would beg him to draw up for her from the depth
the heavy water bucket. This did Vandrad later, when dying, himself
tell Halfred.

But when he had raised the bucket to the edge of the well, she lightly
laid a finger on his bare arm, and said--

"Vandrad, come hither to-night, just when the star Oerva