the last day to quench the
wild fire personified by the terrible wolf Fenris.

CHAPTER XVI: VALI

The Wooing of Rinda

Billing, king of the Ruthenes, was sorely dismayed when he heard
that a great force was about to invade his kingdom, for he was too
old to fight as of yore, and his only child, a daughter named Rinda,
although she was of marriageable age, obstinately refused to choose
a husband from among her many suitors, and thus give her father the
help which he so sadly needed.

While Billing was musing disconsolately in his hall, a stranger
suddenly entered his palace. Looking up, the king beheld a middle-aged
man wrapped in a wide cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat drawn down
over his forehead to conceal the fact that he had but one eye. The
stranger courteously enquired the cause of his evident depression,
and as there was that in his bearing that compelled confidence, the
king told him all, and at the end of the relation he volunteered to
command the army of the Ruthenes against their foe.

His services being joyfully accepted, it was not long ere Odin--for
it was he--won a signal victory, and, returning in triumph, he asked
permission to woo the king's daughter Rinda for his wife. Despite the
suitor's advancing years, Billing hoped that his daughter would lend
a favourable ear to a wooer who appeared to be very distinguished,
and he immediately signified his consent. So Odin, still unknown,
presented himself before the princess, but she scornfully rejected
his proposal, and rudely boxed his ears when he attempted to kiss her.

Forced to withdraw, Odin nevertheless did not relinquish his purpose to
make Rinda his wife, for he knew, thanks to Rossthiof's prophecy, that
none but she could bring forth the destined avenger of his murdered
son. His next step, therefore, was to assume the form of a smith,
in which guise he came back to Billing's hall, and fashioning costly
ornaments of silver and gold, he so artfully multiplied these precious
trinkets that the king joyfully acquiesced when he inquired whether
he might pay his addresses to the princess. The smith, Rosterus as
he announced himself, was, however, as unceremoniously dismissed by
Rinda as the successful general had been; but although his ear once
again tingled with the force of her blow, he was more determined than
ever to make her his wife.

The next time Odin presented himself before the capricious damsel, he
was disguised as a dashing