purse of gold in his face, and when, as he was about to leave the
temple, he saw the ring he had given Ingeborg on the arm of Helge's wife,
he snatched it away from her. In trying to recover it she dropped the god's
image, which she had just been anointing, into the fire, where it was
rapidly consumed, and the rising flames soon set the temple roof in a
blaze.

Frithiof, horror-stricken at the sacrilege which he had involuntarily
occasioned, after vainly trying to extinguish the flames and save the
costly sanctuary, escaped to his ship and waiting companions, to begin the
weary life of an outcast and exile.

"The temple soon in ashes lay,
Ashes the temple's bower;
Wofully Frithiof goes his way,
Weeps in the morning hour."
TEGNER, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).

[Sidenote: Frithiof an exile.] Helge's men started in pursuit, hoping to
overtake and punish him; but when they reached the harbor they could not
find a single seaworthy craft, and were forced to stand on the shore in
helpless inactivity while Ellida's great sails slowly sank beneath the
horizon. It was thus that Frithiof sadly saw his native land vanish from
sight; and as it disappeared he breathed a tender farewell to the beloved
country which he never expected to see again.

"'World-circle's brow,
Thou mighty North!
I may not go
Upon thine earth;
But in no other
I love to dwell;
Now, hero-mother,
Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell, thou high
And heavenly one,
Night's sleeping eye,
Midsummer sun.
Thou clear blue sky,
Like hero's soul,
Ye stars on high,
Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell, ye mounts
Where Honour thrives,
And Thor recounts
Good warriors' lives.
Ye azure lakes,
I know so well,
Ye woods and brakes,
Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell, ye tombs,
By billows blue,
The lime tree blooms
Its snow on you.
The Saga sets
In judgment-veil
What earth forgets;
Farewell, farewell!

"'Farewell the heath,
The forest hoar
I played beneath,
By streamlet's roar.
To childhood's friends
Who loved me well,
Remembrance sends
A fond farewell!

"'My love is foiled,
My rooftree rent,
Mine honour soiled,
In exile sent!
We turn from earth,
On ocean dwell,
But, joy and mirth,
Farewell, farewell!'"
TE