the place is fair enough, doubt it not! Thou shalt see sights here such as thou hast not seen in the halls of the English king. We shall be together as sisters whilst thou bidest with me; we shall go down to the sea when the storm blows up afresh; thou shalt see the billows racing to the land like wild, white-maned horses. And then the whales far out in the offing! They dash one against another like steel-clad warriors! Ha, what joy to be a witch-wife and ride on a whale's back—to speed before the bark, and wake the storm, and lure men to the deeps with lovely songs of sorcery!
Dagny.
Fie, Hiördis, how canst thou speak such things!
Hiördis.
Canst <g>thou</g> sing sorceries, Dagny?
Dagny.
[With horror.] I!
Hiördis.
I trow thou canst; how else didst thou lure Sigurd to thee?
Dagny.
Thy speech is shameful; let me go!
Hiördis.
[Holding her back.] Because I jest! Nay, hear me to the end! Think, Dagny, what it is to sit by the window in the eventide and hear the kelpie[1] wailing in the boat-house; to sit waiting and listening for the dead men's ride to Valhal;
- ↑ "Draugen," a vague and horrible sea-monster.
