that she had no long time to live, and therefore wished to ask one thing
of him, which was, that if he married another wife he should promise to
take no other one than the Queen of Hetland the Good. The King gave the
promise, and thereafter the Queen died.

Time went past, and the King, growing tired of living alone, fitted
out his ship and sailed out to sea. As he sailed there came upon him
so thick a mist that he altogether lost his bearings, but after long
trouble he found land. There he laid his ship to, and went on shore all
alone. After walking for some time he came to a forest, into which he
went a little way and stopped. Then he heard sweet music from a harp,
and went in the direction of the sound until he came to a clearing, and
there he saw three women, one of whom sat on a golden chair, and was
beautifully and grandly dressed; she held a harp in her hands, and
was very sorrowful. The second was also finely dressed, but younger
in appearance, and also sat on a chair, but it was not so grand as the
first one's. The third stood beside them, and was very pretty to look
at; she had a green cloak over her other clothes, and it was easy to see
that she was maid to the other two.

After the King had looked at them for a little he went forward and
saluted them. The one that sat on the golden chair asked him who he
was and where he was going; and he told her all the story--how he was
a king, and had lost his queen, and was now on his way to Hetland the
Good, to ask the Queen of that country in marriage. She answered that
fortune had contrived this wonderfully, for pirates had plundered
Hetland and killed the King, and she had fled from the land in terror,
and had come hither after great trouble, and she was the very person
he was looking for, and the others were her daughter and maid. The
King immediately asked her hand; she gladly received his proposal and
accepted him at once. Thereafter they all set out, and made their way to
the ship; and after that nothing is told of their voyage until the King
reached his own country. There he made a great feast, and celebrated his
marriage with this woman; and after that things are quiet for a time.

Hermod and Hadvor took but little notice of the Queen and her daughter,
but, on the other hand, Hadvor and the Queen's maid, whose name was
Olof, were very friendly, and Olof came often to visit Hadvor in her
castle. Before long the King went out to war, and no sooner was he away