第117章

It was believed that the boys had been devoured by ravening wolves; and hardly anyone was suffered to doubt so plain a proof that they were mangled.The belief in this spectacle served to protect the wards.They were presently shut up by their guardians in a hollow oak, so that no trace of their being alive should get abroad, and were fed for a long time under pretence that they were dogs; and were even called by hounds' names, to prevent any belief getting abroad that they were hiding.(1)Frode alone refused to believe in their death; and he went and inquired of a woman skilled in divination where they were hid.

So potent were her spells, that she seemed able, at any distance, to perceive anything, however intricately locked away, and to summon it out to light.She declared that one Ragnar had secretly undertaken to rear them, and had called them by the names of dogs to cover the matter.When the young men found themselves dragged from their hiding by the awful force of her spells, and brought before the eyes of the enchantress, loth to be betrayed by this terrible and imperious compulsion, they flung into her lap a shower of gold which they had received from their guardians.When she had taken the gift, she suddenly feigned death, and fell like one lifeless.Her servants asked the reason why she fell so suddenly; and she declared that the refuge of the sons of Harald was inscrutable; for their wondrous might qualified even the most awful effects of her spells.Thus she was content with a slight benefit, and could not bear to await a greater reward at the king's hands.After this Ragnar, finding that the belief concerning himself and his wards was becoming rife in common talk, took them, both away into Funen.Here he was taken by Frode, and confessed that he had put the young men in safe keeping; and he prayed the king to spare the wards whom he had made fatherless, and not to think it a piece of good fortune to be guilty of two unnatural murders.By this speech he changed the king's cruelty into shame; and he promised that if they attempted any plots in their own land, he would give information to the king.Thus he gained safety for his wards, and lived many years in freedom from terror.

When the boys grew up, they went to Zealand, and were bidden by their friends to avenge their father.They vowed that they and their uncle should not both live out the year.When Ragnar found this out, he went by night to the palace, prompted by the recollection of his covenant, and announced that he was come privily to tell the king something he had promised.But the king was asleep, and he would not suffer them to wake him up, because Frode had been used to punish any disturbance of his rest with the sword.So mighty a matter was it thought of old to break the slumbers of a king by untimely intrusion.Frode heard this from the sentries in the morning; and when he perceived that Ragnar had come to tell him of the treachery, he gathered together his soldiers, and resolved to forestall deceit by ruthless measures.

Harald's sons had no help for it but to feign madness.For when they found themselves suddenly attacked, they began to behave like maniacs, as if they were distraught.And when Frode thought that they were possessed, he gave up his purpose, thinking it shameful to attack with the sword those who seemed to be turning the sword against themselves.But he was burned to death by them on the following night, and was punished as befitted a fratricide.For they attacked the palace, and first crushing the queen with a mass of stones and then, having set fire to the house, they forced Frode to crawl into a narrow cave that had been cut out long before, and into the dark recesses of tunnels.

Here he lurked in hiding and perished, stifled by the reek and smoke.

After Frode was killed, HALFDAN reigned over his country about three years, and then, handing over his sovereignty to his brother Harald as deputy, went roving, and attacked and ravaged Oland and the neighbouring isles, which are severed from contact with Sweden by a winding sound.Here in the winter he beached and entrenched his ships, and spent three years on the expedition.After this he attacked Sweden, and destroyed its king in the field.Afterwards he prepared to meet the king's grandson Erik, the son of his own uncle Frode, in battle; and when he heard that Erik's champion, Hakon, was skillful in blunting swords with his spells, he fashioned, to use for clubbing, a huge mace studded with iron knobs, as if he would prevail by the strength of wood over the power of sorcery.Then -- for he was conspicuous beyond all others for his bravery --amid the hottest charges of the enemy, he covered his head with his helmet, and, without a shield, poised his club, and with the help of both hands whirled it against the bulwark of shields before him.No obstacle was so stout but it was crushed to pieces by the blow of the mass that smote it.Thus he overthrew the champion, who ran against him in the battle, with a violent stroke of his weapon.But he was conquered notwithstanding, and fled away into Helsingland, where he went to one Witolf (who had served of old with Harald), to seek tendance for his wounds.

This man had spent most of his life in camp; but at last, after the grievous end of his general, he had retreated into this lonely district, where he lived the life of a peasant, and rested from the pursuits of war.Often struck himself by the missiles of the enemy, he had gained no slight skill in leechcraft by constantly tending his own wounds.But if anyone came with flatteries to seek his aid, instead of curing him he was accustomed to give him something that would secretly injure him, thinking it somewhat nobler to threaten than to wheedle for benefits.When the soldiers of Erik menaced his house, in their desire to take Halfdan, he so robbed them of the power of sight that they could neither perceive the house nor trace it with certainty, though it was close to them.So utterly had their eyesight been dulled by a decisive mist.