cerning
thee: more powerful, and greater than I ever fancied it, is the love
of a mother! But love never entered into thy heart--thy heart that is
like the wet, cold moorland plants."

Then the miserable form trembled, and it was as though these words
touched an invisible bond between body and soul, and great tears came
into the mournful eyes.

"Thy hard time will come," said the Viking's wife; "and it will be
terrible to me too. It had been better if thou hadst been set out by
the high-road, and the night wind had lulled thee to sleep."

And the Viking's wife wept bitter tears, and went away full of wrath
and bitterness of spirit, vanishing behind the curtain of furs that
hung loose over the beam and divided the hall.

The wrinkled frog crouched in the corner alone. A deep silence reigned
around; but at intervals a half-stifled sigh escaped from its breast,
from the breast of Helga. It seemed as though a painful new life were
arising in her inmost heart. She came forward and listened; and,
stepping forward again, grasped with her clumsy hands the heavy pole
that was laid across before the door. Silently and laboriously she
pushed back the pole, silently drew back the bolt, and took up the
flickering lamp which stood in the antechamber of the hall. It seemed
as if a strong hidden will gave her strength. She drew back the iron
bolt from the closed cellar door, and crept in to the captive. He was
asleep; and when he awoke and saw the hideous form, he shuddered as
though he had beheld a wicked apparition. She drew her knife, cut the
bonds that confined his hands and feet, and beckoned him to follow
her.

[Illustration: THE FLIGHT.]

He uttered some holy names, and made the sign of the cross; and when
the form remained motionless at his side, he said,

"Who art thou? Whence this animal shape that thou bearest, while yet
thou art full of gentle mercy?"

The frog-woman beckoned him to follow, and led him through corridors
shrouded with curtains, into the stables, and there pointed to a
horse. He mounted on its back; but she also sprang up before him,
holding fast by the horse's mane. The prisoner understood her meaning,
and in a rapid trot they rode on a way which he would never have
found, out on to the open heath.

He thought not of her hideous form, but felt how the mercy and
loving-kindness of the Almighty were working by means of this
monstrous apparition; he prayed pious prayers, and sang songs of
praise. T