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Title: The Sentimental Vikings

Author: Richard Voorhees Risley

Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32191]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Sentimental Vikings

BY

R. V. RISLEY

JOHN LANE
THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1897

To E. F. C.

CONTENTS

PAGE
THE SWEEPING OF THE HALL 1

AN INCIDENT 37

WHERE THE WOLVES DANCE 61

THE SACRILEGE 99

THE STORY OF THE OAR-CAPTAIN 115

THE LAST VOYAGE 145

THE SWEEPING OF THE HALL:

AN OLD DANISH TRAGEDY

And now this is the story of Witlaf the harper, that he told in the
great hall of Gorm, the king of all Denmark, ten centuries ago, waving
his handless arms in the flickering glow of the firelight.

I tell the tale of Snore, the lord of the north of the island of
Zeeland, years ago; and of how he swept his hall as the day broke.

First, as to his birth. Men say that the heavens were darkened, and that
tumultuous clouds swept low over the battlements, and that voices were
heard, meaningless, in the air. I do not know--wonders are kind to great
names when they have been memories a little time.

But this much is true, that we in the hall of the castle were told by a
white-faced woman, just as the sun set--I remember how red its light fell
on the rush-covered floor, and how the woman leaned half through the
door and told us, holding the curtain--tha