When they had done this King Hrólf said: ‘He flees not the fire who jumps (leaps) over it.’ Then they all leapt (on their shields) over the fire, and wanted to take King Adils. When he saw this he saved his life, and ran to the tree which stood in the hall, and was hollow inside, and thus he got out with witchcraft and sorcery. He came into the hall of Queen Yrsa and talked to her, and she received him disgracefully, and spoke many big words to him: ‘Thou first didst slay my husband Helgi, and betray him and keepest the property from its owner, and besides this thou wantest to slay my son, and thou art much crueller and worse than any other; now I will in every way help Hrólf to get the property, and thou wilt get shame as thou deservest.’ Adils answered: ‘Here neither will trust the other, and hereafter I shall not come before their eyes.’ Thereupon they ceased to talk” (Hrólf Kraki’s Saga, c. 41). In those days of incessant warfare, the life of the warrior was a magnificent drama from the beginning to the end; his death the closing of a grand career; and his entrance into Valhalla the reward for a life of bravery, in which he showed entire disregard of death, and in which he often exhibited the highest qualities of manhood. As he saw life ebbing away he sang the deeds he had accomplished, and when his eye became dim, and darkness was for ever to close from him the light of the sun, he could hear resounding in his ears the lay of the scald recounting the deeds of his life. No other literature that has come down to us from ancient times describes so vividly and minutely as that of the North the deeds of the grand heroes of old. We can imagine ourselves on the battle-field, can hear the clatter of arms, and the whistling of arrows and spears, the blows resounding against helmet, shield, or coat-of-mail, and the fierce onslaught; and see before our eyes the boarding of vessels and the carnage on deck. In the Sagas which speak of the earliest times we find a magnanimous and chivalrous spirit, for the contest had to be equal, ship against ship, man against man. In a great battle chief was against chief, champion against champion, while the combatants of both sides were looking on, and he who was successful had to fight with the rest, himself at last falling mortally wounded, or standing victorious over all. In these deadly fights, more than anywhere else, do we see this cool daring and courage of the hardy Norsemen, men looking death in the face calmly and unflinchingly, feeling that it was better to die with honour or fame than live with shame, as is so often told in the Sagas; for it is only towards later times that we see the decay of this spirit of chivalry. [Illustration: Fig. 1358.—Bracteate of gold found in a field, Jutland. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1359. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1360. ] Gold bracteates, Norway, ⅔ size, found with many other gold bracteates. ----- Footnote 365: Thráin, some unknown champion.