CHAPTER III: GERDA' S PROPHECY.
On the morrow, when Olaf awoke, he told nothing of this that he hadheard concerning his kinship with Sigurd Erikson, and if Thorgils sawthat he was very moody and quiet, he no doubt thought that the lad wasbut sorrowing at being taken away from the sea that he loved so much.And yet Olaf seemed strangely unwilling to favour any plan of escape.Both Thorgils and Egbert were for ever speaking of flight, but Olafalways had some wise reason to offer for yet further delay, and wouldonly shake his head and say that their plans were ill formed. On thesecond evening of the journey into the south, a halt was made upon theshores of a great inland lake. Thorgils declared that it was a part ofthe sea, and he urged his two companions to steal away with him underthe cover of night so that they might find some fisher's boat and makeoff with it. But Olaf quickly pointed out that there were no boats tobe seen, and that, as the horses and dogs were drinking of the water,it could not be salt like the waters of the great sea. Every day duringthe long and weary journey Thorgils brought up some new plan. But Olafwas obstinate. So at last the two elder boys, seeing that he was bentupon remaining in bondage, yielded to his stronger will, and agreed towait in patience and to go with him wheresoever their master had a mindto take them.
The country into which they were taken was in old times calledGardarike. It lay to the southeast of Esthonia, and it was a part ofwhat is now known as the Russian Empire. Many Norsemen lived in thatland, and King Valdemar was himself the son of the great Swedishviking, Rurik, who had made conquests and settlements in the countrieseast of the Baltic Sea. Valdemar held his court at Holmgard--the modernNovgorod. He was a very wise and powerful ruler, and his subjects wereprosperous and peaceable, having many useful arts, and carrying on acommerce with the great city of Mikligard. The people were stillheathen, worshipping Odin and Thor and the minor gods of theScandinavians; for the faith of Christendom was as yet but vaguelyknown to them and little understood.
Sigurd Erikson, who was Valdemar's high steward, lived in the king'spalace in great dignity and had many servants. So when he returned withall the treasure that he had gathered as tribute he took OlafTriggvison into his service. But Thorgils and Egbert were still held asbond slaves and put to hard labour in the king's stables.
The steward was very good to Olaf, and soon grew to love him as his ownson, guarding him from all harm, speaking with him whenever chancebrought them together, yet never betraying by word or act that the boywas other than a mere thrall, whom he had bought with other chattelsduring his journey through the king's dominions. Neither did Olafwhisper, even to his foster brother, any word of his close kinship withtheir new master. Thorgils, who had not forgotten the name of QueenAstrid's brother, might indeed have discovered Olaf's secret. But it sochanced that the king's steward was spoken of only by his title as theHersir Sigurd, and not as the son of Erik of Ofrestead.
For many months Olaf fulfilled his little duties very meekly, and noone paid great heed to him, for he still bore the traces of his roughwork. Sigurd was well satisfied that his secret was safe, and thatValdemar would never discover that his steward was breaking the law.But soon the lad's fair hair grew long and bright, his hands lost theirroughness, and his growing beauty of face and limb attracted many eyes.Then Sigurd began to fear, for he knew the penalty he would be forcedto pay if it should be discovered that he had wittingly brought a kingborn youth into the land.
This danger grew greater when it chanced that the Queen Allogia tooknotice of young Olaf, for the queen was in some sort a spae woman; shewas skilled in foretelling the future, and she quickly perceived thatthe boy's beauty had come to him from some noble ancestor. It seemedthat she was bent upon knowing his history, for she besought manypersons about the court to tell her whence he had come, and to discoverfor her the names of his parents. But none could tell.
Now, Allogia was still but two and twenty years of age, and very fair,and the king did not like that she should be seen holding speech withhis handsome steward, for fear that Sigurd should win her heart. Butone day in the early winter time the queen came upon Sigurd in thegreat hall, where he was alone with Olaf, teaching the boy to read therunes carved in the black oak behind the king's high seat.
Olaf stood back as she entered, but his eyes rested fearlessly uponher. She wore a blue woven mantle ornamented with lace, and under it ascarlet kirtle with a silver belt. There was a band of gold round herhead, and her fine brown hair reached down to her waist on both sides.She approached the steward, and said as he turned to withdraw from thehall:
"I pray you, go on with your lesson, hersir."
"Your pardon, lady," said Sigurd, "I was but teaching the lad the runeof King Rurik, and it is of no account that I should continue."
"Not often have I heard of a mere slave boy learning runes," returnedAllogia; "such knowledge is only meant for those who are of highestate." She paused and looked round at Olaf, who stood apart with hishand caressing the head of a great dog that had risen from before thefire. "And yet," added the queen thoughtfully, "I would say that thisboy Ole, as you call him, has no serf's blood in him. His fairness isthat of a kingly race. What is his parentage, Hersir Sigurd? You whohave shown him so much favour, who have dressed him in such fineclothes, and who even go so far as to teach him the reading of runes,surely know him to be of noble birth. Who is he, I say?"
This question, coming so directly and from the queen herself, whom hedared not disobey, brought the guilty blood to Sigurd's brow. ButAllogia did not observe his confusion. Her large dark eyes were gazingfull upon Olaf, as though in admiration of the boy's silky gold hairand firm, well knit figure.
"I bought the lad in North Esthonia," Sigurd answered after a moment'spause. "I bought him from a bonder in Rathsdale, and the price I paidfor him was two silver marks. It may be that he is some viking's son, Icannot tell. He is quick witted and very clever at all games, and thatis why it pleases me to teach him many things."
There was a look of doubt in Allogia's eyes, as though she knew thatthe steward was telling her but a half truth. He saw her doubt and madea sign to Olaf to draw nearer. The boy obeyed, and stood before thequeen with bowed head.
"Of what parentage are you, boy?" demanded Sigurd. "Who is your mother,and what is her condition of life?"
Olaf answered promptly, as he looked calmly into his master's face:
"My mother is a poor bondswoman, hersir," he said. "The vikings broughther into Esthonia from west over sea. I have not had tidings of hersince I was a little child."
The queen smiled at him pityingly.
"And what of your father?" she asked.
Olaf shook his head, and looked vacantly at the queen's beautiful handswith their many gold rings.
"I never knew my father, lady," he replied, "for he was dead before Icame into the world."
"But do you not know his name?" pursued Allogia. Now Olaf feared totell a deliberate lie, and yet, for his uncle's sake, he dared notanswer with the truth. He stammered for an instant, and then, feelingthe dog's head against his hand, he caught the animal's ear between hisfingers and gave it a hard, firm pinch. The dog howled with the suddenpain and sprang forward angrily. And the queen, startled and alarmed,moved aside and presently walked majestically from the hall.
Not again for many weeks did Allogia seek an answer to her question.Sigurd, still fearing that his secret might be revealed, kept the boyaway from the court so that he might not be seen. But for all his carethe danger was for ever recurring.
King Valdemar had a mother named Gerda, who was so old and infirm thatshe always lay abed. She was wonderfully skilled in spaedom, and it wasalways the custom at yuletide, when the guests assembled in the king'shall, that his mother was borne in thither and placed in the high seat.There she prophesied touching any danger overhanging the country, orsimilar thing, according to the questions put to her.
Now it happened in the first winter of Olaf's being in Holmgard, thatat the yule feast, when Gerda had been borne in after this fashion,Valdemar
asked her whether any foreign prince or warrior would enterhis dominions or turn his arms against his kingdom during the followingyear.
The old mother ran her bent fingers through the thin locks of her whitehair, and gazing with dim eyes into the vast hall, thus spoke herprophecy:
"No token of any disastrous war do I discern," she said, "nor any othermisfortune. But one wondrous event I see. In the land of Norway therehas lately been born a child who will be bred up here, in Holmgard,until he grows to be a famous prince; one so highly gifted that therehas never before been seen his equal. He will do no harm to thiskingdom; but he will in every way increase thy fame. He will return tohis native land while yet he is in the flower of his age, and he willreign with great glory in this northern part of the world. But not forlong, not for long. Now, carry me away."
While these words were being spoken, Queen Allogia's eyes rested uponOlaf Triggvison, who was acting as cup bearer to his uncle Sigurd. Shesaw the drinking horn tremble in his hand, so that the wine it helddripped over the silver rim, and fell upon the front of his whitekirtle; and she divined that it was to him that the prophecy referred.But no sign of this suspicion did she betray, either at that time or inthe after days. Yet none the less she watched him always, with her mindfixed upon the thought of his nobility, and the glory that had beenpromised him. In all that he did she was well pleased, for already shehad found that he excelled all others of his age, not only in personalbeauty but in skilful handling of all warlike weapons, in the trainingof dogs and horses, in wrestling and riding, in racing on snowshoes,and in all other exercises. Often she would have spoken with him, but,saving at the time of a great feast, he was never to be seen in thehall.
Throughout the long, cold winter months, Olaf saw nothing of his fosterbrother or of Egbert the Briton, for they had both been taken acrossthe river to labour on one of the king's farmsteads. There theyremained until the early summer, when they brought over their flocksand herds for the sheep meeting. At that time there was held a greatfair in Holmgard, with sports and games and manly contests. Manyparties of men came into the town from distant parts of the kingdom.
On the second morning of the fair, Sigurd Erikson entered the room inwhich Olaf slept. The boy was dressing himself in his fine clothes, andgirding on his leather belt with its small war axe, which Sigurd hadhad made for his young kinsman.
"My boy," said Sigurd, "there is little need for you to dress yourselfin this holiday attire, for it is my will that you do not attend thegames. You must not show yourself amid the crowd."
Now, Olaf had engaged to take part in a great wrestling bout with threeyoung champions from Livonia. Also, he was to have run in a footrace,for which the prize was a silver hilted sword, awarded by the queen. Soat hearing his uncle thus forbid him to appear, he became veryindignant.
"It is too late for you to try to keep me within doors," he protested."I have given my word to the wrestlers, and I cannot now withdraw. Doyou wish me to be jeered at as a coward? Why do you deny me the honourof taking all the prizes that I may so easily win?"
"It is for your own happiness that I forbid you to show yourself beforestrangers," returned Sigurd. "But, more than all, I wish you to keep inhiding for this great reason. There has come into Holmgard a man whom Imet many months ago. I engaged with him to pit my best horse againsthis in the horse ring, and the prize was to be--"
"What was the prize?" asked Olaf, seeing that his uncle had paused.
"The prize was to be yourself, my son," said Sigurd gravely. "The mancoveted you, and would have bought you from your old master Reas."
"And why did you agree to this, knowing that I am your own kinsman andyour sister's son?" asked Olaf.
"I did not then know that you were of my kin," answered Sigurd. "Buthaving given my word, I cannot go back from it. I have seen this man'shorse, and I judge it to be a finer animal than mine. Therefore do Ifear that I must lose you. But if you will keep within the house, Iwill tell the man that you are dead, and will offer him the youngEnglander Egbert in your stead."
"Would you then tell the man a falsehood?" cried Olaf.
"Gladly, if by doing so I still keep you with me, for I would not loseyou for all the world."
Olaf, obedient to his uncle's word, began to unbuckle his belt. But hisface was very gloomy, and it was easy to see that it was only out ofhis love for his uncle that he would by any means agree to forego hispleasures. Olaf was already very proud of his own skill. Never yet hadhe been beaten in any contest, and he had hoped to add to his glory byovercoming all who might come against him on this great day. Moreover,it was a sorry sacrifice for him to make if he was not to be allowed towitness the games.
As Sigurd turned to leave him, the boy suddenly caught his arm.
"I will not promise!" he cried. "I cannot give you my word. I have setmy heart upon the wrestling, and in spite of your forbiddance I shallgo. Tell me what manner of man this is that you speak of, and I willavoid him. Even though he overcome you in the horse fight he shall nottake me from you."
"He is a great viking," answered Sigurd. "Men name him KlerkonFlatface. It is the same who sold you into bondage."
A cloud came upon Olaf's brow, and he sat down upon the side of thetrestle bed.
"Klerkon Flatface?" he repeated slowly. Then raising his eyes he lookedinto his uncle's face and added: "Do not fear, hersir. Klerkon shallnot take me from you."
Now, very soon after Sigurd had gone out to attend upon the king, Olafquitted the house and went by secret ways to the stables, where hefound his foster brother at work combing out the mane of Sigurd'sfighting steed. A very tall and powerful animal it was, with a glossybrown coat and a long tail that reached nearly to the ground. It waswell trained, and many a well won fight had it fought. Sleipner was itsname, and it was so called after the eight footed horse of Odin.
Olaf went to Thorgils' side and greeted him with friendly words. Then,when they had spoken for a while together, Olaf bent his head close toThorgils' ear, and said he:
"I have news, brother."
"Ill news or good?" asked Thorgils.
"Judge for yourself," answered Olaf. "It is that our old enemy Klerkonthe Viking has come into Holmgard, with many men and a mighty horsethat is to be pitted against Sleipner."
Thorgils drew back with a sudden start.
"Then has our good time come," he cried. "Our vow of vengeance must befulfilled. No longer are we little boys, weak of arm and failing incourage. Never again shall Klerkon sail the seas."
"And who will hinder him?" asked Olaf, looking the while into theother's brightened eyes.
"He shall be hindered by me," returned Thorgils. "With me alone mustthe vengeance rest, for it is not well that you, who stand so high inhonour with the king and his court, should sully your white hands withblood. It was my father whom Klerkon slew that day upon the ship, andit is my part to avenge him."
Then Olaf shook his head.
"Not so shall it be," said he. "Thoralf was my own good foster father,and I am not afraid to face the man who sent him so cruelly to hisdeath. I and not you shall bring the murderer to his bane."
"Rash that you always are!" cried Thorgils. "Will you never learn to becautious? Keep your peace. If I should fail, then will it be your turnto avenge my death as our vow of foster brotherhood demands. Now bringme a good weapon, for I have none but an oak cudgel."
"You shall not want for a good weapon," said Olaf, and he drew a smallsword from under his blue cloak and handed it to Thorgils. "Here is mynew handsax. Take it, and use it to good purpose. But in the matter ofKlerkon, it may be that I shall be before you. Odin be with you!"
Olaf the Glorious: A Story of the Viking Age Page 3