with Ingeborg and so defiled the temple of Balder.

A shout of "Say nay, Frithiof! say nay!" broke from the ring
of warriors, but he proudly answered: "I would not lie to gain
Valhalla. I have spoken to thy sister, Helge, yet have I not broken
Balder's peace."

A murmur of horror passed through the ranks at this avowal, and when
the harsh voice of Helge was raised in judgment, none was there to
gainsay the justice of the sentence.

This apparently was not a harsh one, but Helge well knew that it
meant death, and he so intended it.

Far westward lay the Orkney Islands, ruled by Jarl Angantyr, whose
yearly tribute to Bele was withheld now that the old king lay in
his cairn. Hard-fisted he was said to be, and heavy of hand, and to
Frithiof was given the task of demanding the tribute face to face.

Before he sailed upon the judgment-quest, however, he once more sought
Ingeborg, and implored her to elope with him to a home in the sunny
South, where her happiness should be his law, and where she should
rule over his subjects as his honoured wife. But Ingeborg sorrowfully
refused to accompany him, saying that, since her father was no more,
she was in duty bound to obey her brothers implicitly, and could not
marry without their consent.

The fiery spirit of Frithiof was at first impatient under this
disappointment of his hopes, but in the end his noble nature conquered,
and after a heartrending parting scene, he embarked upon Ellida, and
sorrowfully sailed out of the harbour, while Ingeborg, through a mist
of tears, watched the sail as it faded and disappeared in the distance.

The vessel was barely out of sight when Helge sent for two witches
named Heid and Ham, bidding them by incantations to stir up a tempest
at sea in which it would be impossible for even the god-given vessel
Ellida to live, that so all on board should perish. The witches
immediately complied; and with Helge's aid they soon stirred up a
storm the fury of which is unparalleled in history.

"Helge on the strand
Chants his wizard-spell,
Potent to command
Fiends of earth or hell.
Gathering darkness shrouds the sky;
Hark, the thunder's distant roll!
Lurid lightnings, as they fly,
Streak with blood the sable pole.
Ocean, boiling to its base,
Scatters wide its wave of foam;
Screaming, as in fleetest chase,
Sea-birds seek their island home."

Tegner, Frithiof Saga (Longfe