... But Hallbiorn into the bower is gone And there sat Hallgerd all alone. She was not dight to go nor ride, She had no joy of the summer-tide, Silent she sat and combed her hair, That fell all round about her there. The slant beam lay upon her head And gilt her golden locks to red. He gazed at her with hungry eyes And fluttering did his heart arise. "Full hot," he said, "is the sun to-day, And the snow is gone from the mountain-way, The king-cup grows above the grass. And through the wood do the thrushes pass." Of all his words she hearkened none But combed her hair amidst the sun. "The laden beasts stand in the garth, And their heads are turned to Helliskarth." The sun was falling on her knee, And she combed her gold hair silently. "To-morrow great will be the cheer At the Brother's Tongue by Whitewater." From her folded lap the sunbeam slid; She combed her hair, and the word she hid. "Come, love; is the way so long and drear From Whitewater to Whitewater?" The sunbeam lay upon the floor; She combed her hair and spake no more. He drew her by the lily hand: "I love thee better than all the land." He drew her by the shoulders sweet, "My threshold is but for thy feet." He drew her by the yellow hair, "Oh, why wert thou so deadly fair? Oh, am I wedded to death?" he cried, "Is the Dead-strand come to Whitewater side?" In order to know how terrible all this is, we must understand the character of the Norse woman. Like the will of the man, her will is iron; she cannot be broken, she cannot be made to bend, except by love, and when she refuses to bend there is nothing to be done but to kill her. All the facts stated here in rhymed verse are even more terrible and more simple in the prose chronicle. Throughout Norse history we repeatedly hear of women being killed under like circumstances. These ferocious men would not beat or abuse their women; that would have been no use. But they insisted upon being obeyed; to refuse obedience was to court death. In the present true story, however, the refusal to obey means much more than to court death; it means a bold confession by the bride that she has loved and still loves another man than her husband, and that is the reason of his sudden and terrible question, "Oh, am I wedded to death? Is the Dead-strand come to this place?" The Dead-strand or Corpse-strand was, in Norse mythology, the name of a part of Hel, the region of the dead, the Hades of old Norse, so his question really means, "Have the evil dead come here for us both?" for good men and women did not go to the Dead-strand. Now hear her answer. When he speaks at last, she sings in his face her secret lover's favourite song, which is just the same thing as to say, "I am glad to be killed for my lover's sake." And to kill a Norse woman meant, of