h, and as it was
easy to see that she was jealous of everyone who might gain power over
her husband, it boded ill for Geirlaug and Grethari. The faithful
woman could not sleep for thinking about her charges, and her soul
sank when, a few months after the marriage, war broke out with a
country across the seas, and the king rode away at the head of his
troops. Then there happened what she had so long expected. One night,
when, unlike her usual habit, she was sleeping soundly--afterwards she
felt sure that a drug had been put into her food--the witch came to
the tower. Exactly what she did there no one knew, but, when the sun
rose, the beds of Grethari and Geirlaug were empty. At dawn the queen
summoned some of her guards, and told them that she had been warned in
a dream that some evil fate would befall her through a wild beast, and
bade them go out and kill every animal within two miles of the palace.
But the only beasts they found were two black foals of wondrous
beauty, fitted for the king's riding; it seemed a pity to kill them,
for what harm could two little foals do anyone? So they let them run
away, frisking over the plain, and returned to the palace.

'Did you see _nothing_, really _nothing_?' asked the queen, when they
again appeared before her.

'Nothing, your majesty,' they replied. But the queen did not believe
them, and when they were gone, she gave orders to her steward that at
supper the guards should be well plied with strong drink so that their
tongues should be loosened, and, further, that he was to give heed to
their babble, and report to her, whatever they might let fall.

'Your majesty's commands have been obeyed,' said the steward when,
late in the evening, he begged admittance to the royal apartments;
'but, after all, the men have told you the truth. I listened to their
talk from beginning to end, and nothing did they see save two black
foals.' He might have added more, but the look in the queen's blazing
eyes terrified him, and, bowing hastily, he backed quickly out of her
presence.

In a week's time the king came home, and right glad were all the
courtiers to see him.

'Now, perhaps, she will find some one else to scream at,' whispered
they amongst themselves. 'She' was the queen, who had vented her rage
on her attendants during these days, though what had happened to make
her so angry nobody knew. But whatever might be the meaning of it,
things would be sure to improve with the king to rule