ere
like a tame bird with bowed head.

[Illustration: THE CHRISTIAN PRIEST'S SPELL.]

Then he spoke to her in gentle words of the kindly deed she had done
for him in the past night, when she came to him in the form of the
hideous frog, to loosen his bonds, and to lead him out to life and
light; and he told her that she too was bound in closer bonds than
those that had confined him, and that she should be released by his
means. He would take her to Hedeby (Schleswig), to the holy Ansgarius,
and yonder in the Christian city the spell that bound her would be
loosed. But he would not let her sit before him on the horse, though
of her own accord she offered to do so.

"Thou must sit behind me, not before me," he said. "Thy magic beauty
hath a power that comes of evil, and I fear it; and yet I feel that
the victory is sure to him who hath faith."

And he knelt down and prayed fervently. It seemed as though the
woodland scenes were consecrated as a holy church by his prayer. The
birds sang as though they belonged to the new congregation, the wild
flowers smelt sweet as incense; and while he spoke the horse that had
carried them both in headlong career stood still before the tall
bramble bushes, and plucked at them, so that the ripe juicy berries
fell down upon Helga's hands, offering themselves for her refreshment.

Patiently she suffered the priest to lift her on the horse, and sat
like a somnambulist, neither completely asleep nor wholly awake. The
Christian bound two branches together with bark, in the form of a
cross, which he held up high as they rode through the forest. The wood
became thicker as they went on, and at last became a trackless
wilderness.

The wild sloe grew across the way, so that they had to ride round the
bushes. The bubbling spring became not a stream but a standing marsh,
round which likewise they were obliged to lead the horse. There was
strength and refreshment in the cool forest breeze; and no small power
lay in the gentle words, which were spoken in faith and in Christian
love, from a strong inward yearning to lead the poor lost one into the
way of light and life.

They say the rain-drops can hollow the hard stone, and the waves of
the sea can smooth and round the sharp edges of the rocks. Thus did
the dew of mercy, that dropped upon Helga, smooth what was rough, and
penetrate what was hard in her. The effects did not yet appear, nor
was she aware of them herself; but doth the seed in the