Denmark -- History -- To 1241; Folklore -- Scandinavia
After this, Ebbe, a rover of common birth, was so confident of his
valour, that he was moved to aspire to a splendid marriage. He was
a suitor for Sigrid, the daughter of Yngwin, King of the Goths, and
moreover demanded half the Gothic kingdom for her dowry. Halfdan was
consulted whether the match should be entertained, and advised that
a feigned consent should be given, promising that he would baulk the
marriage. He also gave instructions that a seat should be allotted to
himself among the places of the guests at table. Yngwin approved the
advice; and Halfdan, utterly defacing the dignity of his royal presence
with an unsightly and alien disguise, and coming by night on the wedding
feast, alarmed those who met him; for they marvelled at the coming of a
man of such superhuman stature.
When Halfdan entered the palace, he looked round on all and asked, who
was he that had taken the place next to the king? Upon Ebbe replying
that the future son-in-law of the king was next to his side, Halfdan
asked him, in the most passionate language, what madness, or what
demons, had brought him to such wantonness, as to make bold to unite his
contemptible and filthy race with a splendid and illustrious line, or to
dare to lay his peasant finger upon the royal family: and, not content
even with such a claim, to aspire, as it seemed, to a share even in the
kingdom of another. Then he bade Ebbe fight him, saying that he must get
the victory before he got his wish. The other answered that the night
was the time to fight with monsters, but the day the time with men;
but Halfdan, to prevent him shirking the battle by pleading the hour,
declared that the moon was shining with the brightness of daylight.
Thus he forced Ebbe to fight, and felled him, turning the banquet into a
spectacle, and the wedding into a funeral.
Some years passed, and Halfdan went back to his own country, and
being childless he bequeathed the royal wealth by will to Yngwin, and
appointed him king. YNGWIN was afterwards overthrown in war by a rival
named Ragnald, and he left a son SIWALD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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