t."

"I have not slept, O youth, but have been proving you. Man or sword a
wise man testeth ere in them he can confide. You are Frithiof. I have
known it since first you entered my hall," said the old king. "Why did
you enter my home in disguise? Honour, Frithiof, sits not nameless,
the rude guest of hospitality. We had heard of a Frithiof whom both
men and gods revere. Soon, I thought, will he come against my home
with his famous sword, bold and brave. But you came clad in tatters, a
beggar's staff in your hand.

"But cast not down your eyelids. I have proved you and forgiven. I
have pitied and forgotten. All life is a struggle, hardest in youth.
You are young and I am old. Soon shall I rest in the grave.
Therefore, O youth, take my kingdom and my queen. Be my son and let us
forget our quarrel."

"I came not as a thief," said Frithiof sadly, "but only to see Ingeborg
for the last time. Too long have I stayed as your guest. The gods
will not forgive me. Balder the Good loves all mankind but me.
Northland has cast me out, and no more shall I seek for peace on the
earth so green and sweet. To ocean's billows will I go, out upon my
good ship far as the stars can guide me and far as the stormy billows
can bear me.

"Let me hear the rolling thunder, let me hear the lightning's voice;
When it thunders all around me, Frithiof's heart will then rejoice
Clang of shields and rain of arrows! let the sea the battle fill;
Purified, I'll then fall gladly, reconciled to heaven's will."

King Ring's Death

On a lovely day in spring when the rays of the sun seemed more golden
than usual, Frithiof entered the hall of King Ring to take leave of his
host. The king and Ingeborg his queen sat upon their chairs of state,
both pale and sad. Frithiof listened to a song of parting recited by
the king's harper. Then he said: "O king! the billows now bathe my
ship, the flying steed, the sea-horse that is longing to leave the
shore. Gladly will they follow him who is fleeing from his
well-beloved land."

To the queen Frithiof said: "Again I give you this arm-ring, O
Ingeborg! Receive it in memory of our youth, and never let it leave
you. I go, and never will you see me again. No more shall I behold
the smoke rising upward from Northland. For the ocean is my fatherland
and shall be my grave."

"Well know I that death is nigh," now said King Ring. "All men must
die, and I shall not moan like a coward