on the brow, saying:

"Aye, thanks to you, Olaf, I live to be your brother and your thrall
till the end."

"My brother always, not my thrall," I muttered, for I was growing tired.
Then I went to sleep again.

Three days later, when my strength began to return, I sent for Steinar
and said:

"Brother, Iduna the Fair, whom you have never seen, my betrothed, must
wonder how it fares with me, for the tale of this hurt of mine will have
reached Lesso. Now, as there are reasons why Ragnar cannot go, and as
I would send no mean man, I pray you to do me a favour. It is that you
will take a boat and sail to Lesso, carrying with you as a present from
me to Athalbrand's daughter the skin of that white bear, which I trust
will serve her and me as a bed-covering in winter for many a year to
come. Tell her, thanks be to the gods and to the skill of Freydisa, my
nurse, I live who all thought must die, and that I trust to be strong
and well for our marriage at the Spring feast which draws on. Say also
that through all my sickness I have dreamed of none but her, as I trust
that sometimes she may have dreamed of me."

"Aye, I'll go," answered Steinar, "fast as horses' legs and sails can
carry me," adding with his pleasant laugh: "Long have I desired to see
this Iduna of yours, and to learn whether she is as beautiful as you
say; also what it is in her that Ragnar hates."

"Be careful that you do not find her too beautiful," broke in Freydisa,
who, as ever, was at my side.

"How can I if she is for Olaf?" answered Steinar, smiling, as he left
the place to make ready for his journey to Lesso.

"What did you mean by those words, Freydisa?" I asked when he was gone.

"Little or much," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Iduna is
lovely, is she not, and Steinar is handsome, is he not, and of an age
when man seeks woman, and what is brotherhood when man seeks woman and
woman beguiles man?"

"Peace to your riddles, Freydisa. You forget that Iduna is my betrothed
and that Steinar was fostered with me. Why, I'd trust them for a week at
sea alone."

"Doubtless, Olaf, being young and foolish, as you are; also that is your
nature. Now here is the broth. Drink it, and I, whom some call a wise
woman and others a witch, say that to-morrow you may rise from this bed
and sit in the sun, if there is any."

"Freydisa," I said when I had swallowed the broth, "why do folk call you
a witch?"

"I think because I am a little less of a fool th