“Thereafter a handsome young warrior made his appearance from the recesses of the forest, and respectfully offered to attend to her own home the damsel, whom his interference had thus rescued. The fair Sigrid, however, wept bitterly; for in her terror she had lost all her roots, berries, and leaves; so that, according to the laws of magic, she must begin the labour of collecting them anew,--though the evening was far advanced, and the country around her wholly new and mysterious. ‘Search then, and pluck as many more as it pleases you,’ said the young knight. ‘I know, moreover, that at such times one must be alone and undisturbed. Therefore I shall walk round thee, fair stranger, making a wide circle, so that no one shall speak with thee, nor approach too nearly,--and ere the dawn of day I shall lead you home to your father’s castle. Search then, pretty maid, and fear not aught that can befall you in these woods.’ With these words the young knight vanished again amid the forest thickets; the fair Sigrid continued her employment as he had enjoined, and if, in that lonely unknown place, terror now and then assailed her, she felt herself immediately refreshed and encouraged, when she heard the rattling of the knight’s golden armour through the distant green coppice. “At length she had collected another store like that which had been lost; and thereupon it occurred to her how much better it would be to boil them immediately in a golden vessel which she had with her, so that she might at once carry home with her the precious drink which the old knight had desired her to prepare. Directly after her first and slightest signal, her protector was close at hand, and scarcely had she made her wishes known to him, ere he began to gather dry branches and brushwood, from which in a moment arose bright flames, casting their light far amid the darkness of the night. But the boiling of her magical plants required a long time, and when it was nearly ended, the damsel began to weep bitterly; for she was now so wearied that she was quite unable to undertake her long journey homewards. Hereupon the knight said, ‘Fairest of maidens, you may here rest securely. I shall watch over you while you sleep, and awake you at the proper hour.’--Then he spread out his mantle on the ground,--collected also a great quantity of soft moss, making for her a warm and pleasant couch, and while she looked at it shyly and timidly, he had already vanished away into the deepest shades. “The morning red was already bright in the east, when she was awoke, terrified by the distant sounds of martial horns and trumpets; but the young hero again stood near her, and said, ‘You must now make all possible haste to reach your home, for the horns that sound yonder from a distance are the signals of Hakon Swendson, that now summon your father to the battle-field. Take up your golden cup then and follow me.’