rthild, should hold."

All the guests kept silence when Vandrad had spoken. Halfred looked
proudly down upon him, and very gently, he told me later, he felt the
veins in his temples swell, as, smiling, he asked the Skald--but it was
the smile of a king, not a child's smile--

"And what then of Harthild,
Her beauty and fame,
Canst thou here sound the praise,
In Halfred's mead hall?"

Then said Vandrad--

"For all that thou knowest,
Thou far roaming Viking,
Hast thou never heard Harthild's
Descent and renown
Proclaimed on the harp?
From Upsala's ancient
Deep rooted stem
The maiden is sprung.
Hartstein the Haggard,
Men call her father,
The powerful monarch
Of far spreading fame.
His daughter close guarded
He haughtily holds;
All wooers rejecting,
Who cannot excel him
In throwing the hammer.
And no less the maiden
All men avoideth,
Man-like her own mood.
With good cause she boasteth
Herself in deep riddles
Above all the Skalds
Skilful to be.
'Breaker of men's wits'
In dread and in envy,
They call her in Nordland.
To every wooer
Who fain her proud spirit
In wedlock would bind,
Tells she the same
Close sealed riddle;
For none--not the wisest--
Has ever yet solved it.
Then scornfully laughing,
With her sharp scissors,
--For so runs the statute--
To shame him, she sheareth
From the hero his hair."

Then Halfred's temple veins swelled fearfully. He shook back the thick
black locks which flowed down even to his shoulders, and drained off a
deep drinking horn. Then he sprang from his seat, and seized the Bragi
cup, on which vows were wont to be vowed. Once more he paused, set down
the Bragi cup again, and asked--

"But Skald, say now, quickly,
--Oft hast thou seen her--
This men avoider.
Beautiful is she?
This breaker of men's wits,
Would the bride's wreath become her?"

Vandrad replied--

"Nor soft nor gentle,
Is she, nor lovely,
But proud and stately
Stands her tall form.
Nor could another
Carry so fitly
The crown of a king."

Then Halfred again took up the Bragi cup, strode forward to the highest
step which led to his seat of honour, and paused where exactly in