ake their bread they were so surprised at the
beauty of the maiden that they let the loaves burn while looking at her,
and on being blamed for this carelessness on their return to the ship
said they could not help it, for they had been bewitched by the face of
the loveliest maiden they had ever gazed upon.

"She cannot be as lovely as Tora was," said Ragnar.

"There was never a lovelier woman," they declared, and Ragnar was so
struck by their story that he sent messengers ashore to learn if they
were telling the truth. If it were so, he said, if Kraka were as
beautiful as Tora, they were bidden to bring her to him neither dressed
nor undressed, neither fasting nor satisfied, neither alone nor in
company. The messengers found the maiden as fair as the cooks had said
and repeated the king's demand.

"Your king must be out of his mind, to send such a message," said the
beggar's wife; but Kraka told them that she would come as their king
wished, but not until the next morning.

The next day she came to the shore where the ship lay. She was completely
covered with her splendid hair, worn like a net around her. She had eaten
an onion before coming, and had with her the old beggar's sheep dog; so
that she had fulfilled Ragnar's three demands.

Her wit highly pleased Ragnar and he asked her to come on board, but she
would not do so until she had been promised peace and safety. When she
was taken to the cabin Ragnar looked at her in delight. He thought that
she surpassed Tora in beauty, and offered a prayer to Odin, asking for
the love of the maiden. Then he took the gold-embroidered dress which
Tora had worn and offered it to Kraka, saying in verse, in the fashion of
those times:

"Will you have Tora's robe? It suits you well. Her
white hands have played upon it. Lovely and kind was
she to me until death."

Kraka answered, also in verse:

"I dare not take the gold-embroidered robe which
adorned Tora the fair. It suits not me. Kraka am I
called in coal-black baize. I have ever herded goats on
the stones by the sea-shore."

"And now I will go home," she added. "If the king's mind does not change
he can send for me when he will."

Then she went back to the beggar's cottage and Ragnar sailed in his ship
away.

Of course every one knows without telling what came from such an
invitation. It was not long before Ragnar