A Struggle for Rome, v. 3

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER XIII.

  "Well," laughed the King, "thou hast spared me the trouble, Duke ofApulia!"

  "And the little duchess," added Valeria, "has, as if she had foreseenwhat was coming, already adorned herself like a bride."

  "In honour of _you_," said the shepherdess. "When I heard of this feastas I entered the gates of Roma, I opened my bundle, as my grandfatherhad bidden me, and put on my ornaments."

  "Our betrothal," said Adalgoth to his bride, "has fallen upon the dayof the King's betrothal; shall our wedding take place also on thewedding-day of the royal pair?"

  "No, no!" interrupted Valeria hastily, almost anxiously. "Add no otherto a vow which is yet unfulfilled! You children of Fortune, be wise.You have to-day found each other. Keep to-day fast, for to-morrowbelongs to the unknown!"

  "Thou speakest truth!" cried Adalgoth. "Even today shall be ourwedding!" and he lifted Gotho upon his left arm, and showed her to allthe people. "Look here, ye good Goths! This is my little wife andduchess!"

  "With your favour!" said a modest voice. "When so much sunshine fallsupon the summits and heights of the nation, the lower vegetation wouldalso gladly share some of its warmth."

  A homely-looking man approached the King, leading a pretty girl by thehand.

  "Is it thou, brave Wachis?" cried Earl Teja, going up to him. "And nolonger a bond-servant, but with the long hair of a freedman?"

  "Yes, sir. My poor master. King Witichis, gave me my liberty when hesent me away with Mistress Rauthgundis and Wallada. Since then I havelet my hair grow. And my mistress--I know it for a fact--was about tofree Liuta, so that we might be married according to the law of thenation; but, alas, my mistress never returned to her home at Faesulae.But I returned just at the right moment to save Liuta, for the verynext day the Saracens burnt the house and murdered all whom they found.After Mistress Rauthgundis's death--leaving no one to claim theinheritance, for a storm had buried her father Athalwin under anavalanche--Liuta became the King's property; and therefore I would begthe King to take me again as a bond-servant, so that we may not bepunished if we marry, and----"

  "Wachis, thou art indeed faithful!" cried Totila, interrupting him."No! thou shalt contract a free marriage! Give me a gold-piece."

  "Here, King Totila," said Gotho, eagerly taking one from her shepherd'sbag; "it is the last of six."

  The King took the gold, laid it upon Liuta's open palm, and then struckher hand from below, so that the gold-piece flew up into the air, andfell ringing upon the mosaic pavement.

  Then the King said:

  "Liuta, thou art free! No bonds hold thee. Go in peace and rejoice withthy bridegroom."

  Earl Teja now came forward and said:

  "Wachis, once before thou hast borne the shield of a luckless master.Wilt thou now become my shield-bearer?"

  With tears in his eyes, Wachis clasped the hand of the Earl in both hisown.

  And now Teja lifted his golden goblet and solemnly said:

  "Fortune befall you! Already shines on you The shimmering sunshine: Yet thankfully think Of the Dear and the Dead With reverent remembrance! He who strove unsuccessful, The world-renowned warrior: Witichis, Waltharis' worthiest son! Though you celebrate cheerily The feast of the fairest, The Deity's darlings, Yet honour for ever The memory mournful Of the Great and the Good! I remind you, O revellers, To drink to the dear ones; To the manliest man, And the worthiest woman; To Rauthgundis and Witichis, Deploring, I drink!"

  And all solemnly and silently returned his pledge.

  Then King Totila once more raised his cup and said before all thepeople:

  "_He_ deserved! _I_ received! To him be eternal honour!"

  As he resumed his place--the other two betrothed couples had beenseated at the King's table--Earl Thorismuth, of Thurii (he had beenrewarded for his valour by the title of Earl, but, at his own request,had retained his office of herald and shield-hearer), ascended thesteps, and lowered his herald's staff before the King, saying:

  "I come to announce strangers, O King of the Goths! Guests who havesailed here from afar. The large fleet, of about a hundred ships, whichwas reported by thy coast-guards and from the harbour-towns, has nowrun into the harbour of Portus. It has brought northern people, an old,brave, and seafaring folk, from the land of farthest Thule. Theirdragon-ships have lofty decks, and their monstrous figure-heads terrifythe beholder. But they come to thee in peace. Yesterday the flag-shiplowered its boats, and our noble guests have sailed up the river. Ichallenged them, and received the answer: 'King Harald of Goetaland,and Haralda (his wife, as it seems), wish to greet King Totila.'"

  "Lead them to us! Duke Guntharis, Duke Adalgoth. Earl Teja, EarlWisand, and Earl Grippa, go to meet and accompany them here."

  Presently, to the sound of strange and twisted horns made of shells,and surrounded by twenty of their sailors and heroes clad in closecoats of mail, there appeared on the terrace two figures which farovertopped even the slender Totila and his table companions.

  King Harald bore upon his helmet the two wings--each several feetlong--of the black sea-eagle. The tail-feathers of the same birdfloated from his iron crest. Down his back fell the skin of a monstrousblack bear, the jaws and fore-paws of which hung from broad iron ringsupon his breast-plate. His coat, woven of iron wire, reached to theknee, and was confined round the hips by a broad belt of seal-skin, setwith shells. His arms and legs were bare, but at once adorned andprotected by broad golden bracelets. A short knife hung from a steelchain at his belt. In his right hand he carried a long forked spearlike a harpoon. His thick, bright yellow hair fell like a mane low downupon his shoulders.

  At his left hand stood--scarcely shorter by a finger's length--theWalkyre-like form of his female companion.

  Upon her head she wore a golden open helmet, decorated with the smallwings of the silver-gull. Her bright red hair, which had a metalliclustre, fell from beneath it in a long straight mass over the smallstrip of white bearskin which covered her back--more an ornament than amantle--almost to her ankles.

  A closely-fitting mail, made of little scales of gold, betrayed theincomparable figure of the Amazon, yielding to every movement of herheaving bosom. Her under garment, which reached half-way between theknee and ankle, was tastefully made of the white skin of the snow-hare.Her arms were covered by sleeves made of rows of amber beads, whichglittered strangely in the evening rays of the southern sunshine.

  Upon her left shoulder was gravely perched one of the delicate whitefalcons of Iceland.

  A small hatchet was stuck into her girdle. She carried over hershoulder a long sweeping harp, surmounted with a swan's head and neckof silver.

  The Roman populace--their eyes opened wide in wonder--pressed afterthese singular figures, and even the Goths could not but admire thewondrously fair complexion and the singularly light and sparkling eyesof these northerners.

  "As the black hero who received me," began the Viking, "assures me thathe is not the King, then no other can be he but thou," and he gave hishand to Totila, first pulling off his fighting-glove of shark's skin.

  "Welcome to the Tiber, my cousins from Thuleland!" cried Totila, as heraised his cup and pledged his guests.

  Seats were quickly prepared, and the royal visitors took their placesat the King's table; their followers at the table near them. Adalgothpoured out wine from tall, two-handled jugs.

  King Harald drank, and looked wonderingly around.

  "By Asathor!" he cried; "but it is beautiful here!"

  "Such I imagine Walhalla to be!" said his companion.

  The Goths and the northerners could scarcely understand each other.

  "If it pleases thee so well, brother," Totila slowly said, "then restamongst us with thy wife for some time."

  "Ho-ho! Rome-King!" laug
hed the giantess, and tossed back her head sosuddenly, that the waves of her red hair shook.

  The falcon flew screaming up, and circled round her head three times.It then quietly returned to her shoulder.

  "The man has not yet been born," continued the Amazon, "who couldconquer Haralda's heart and hand. Harald alone, my brother, can bend myarm, and spring and hurl his spear farther than I."

  "Patience, my little sister! I trust that soon a man of marrow willmaster thy coy maidenhood. This King here, although he looks as mild asBaldur, yet resembles Sigurd, the vanquisher of Fafner. You shall viewith each other in hurling the spear."

  Haralda cast a long look at the Gothic King, blushed, and pressed akiss upon her falcon's smooth head.

  But Totila said:

  "Evil befell, as the singers tell us, when Sigurd strove with theAmazon. Rather let woman greet woman in peace. Give thy hand, Haralda,to my bride."

  And he signed to Valeria, to whom Duke Guntharis had very imperfectlytranslated what was said.

  Valeria rose with graceful dignity. She wore a long white Roman-Greciangarment, which hung in soft folds, and was confined at the waist by agolden girdle, and upon the shoulder with a cameo brooch. Bound hernobly-shaped head was bound a branch of laurel, which Totila had takenfrom Adalgoth's wreath to fasten into her black hair. Her beauty, andthe rhythm of her movements and the folds of her garments, seemed tofloat around her like music. She silently held out her hand to hernorthern sister.

  Haralda had cast a sharp and not very friendly look upon the Romangirl; but admiration soon dispelled the angry surprise which hadoverspread her countenance, and she said:

  "By Freia's necklace! thou art the most lovely woman I have everbeheld. I doubt whether a Wish-girl of Walhalla could compare withthee. Dost thou know, Harald, whom this Princess resembles? Ten nightsago we laid waste an island in the blue Grecian sea, and plundered acolumned temple. There stood a tall, icy-cold woman, made of whitestone; upon her breast was the figure of a head surrounded with snakes;at her feet the night-bird; she was clad in a garment of many folds.Swen unfortunately broke her to pieces because of the jewels in hereyes. The King's bride resembles that marble goddess."

  "I must translate what she has said to thee," said Totila, turning toValeria with a smile. "Thy poetical adorer, Pisa, could not haveflattered thee more delicately than this Bellona of the north. Theylanded, so we were told, at Melos, and there broke the beautiful statueof Athene, sculptured by Phidias. You have made great desolation, Ihear," he continued, turning to Harald, "in all the islands betweenCos, Chios, and Melos. What, then, has led you so peacefully to us?"

  "That I will tell thee, brother; but only after more drink." And heheld out his cup to Adalgoth. "No, do not spoil the splendid juice withwater! Water should be salt, so that no one could drink it unless hewere a shark or a walrus. Water is good to carry us upon its back, butnot to be carried in our stomachs. And this vine-beer of yours is awonderful drink. I am soon tired of our mead; it is like a tame sweetdish. But this vine-mead! the more a man drinks, the thirstier hebecomes. And if one drank too much--which is scarcely possible--it isnot like the intoxication of ale or mead, which makes a man ready topray to Asathor to hammer an iron ring round his temples. No; theintoxication of the vine is like the sweet madness of the Skalds--a manfeels like a god! So much for the vine! But now I will tell thee how itwas that we came here."