[Illustration] The Ward of King Canute A Romance of the Danish Conquest by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz Contents Acknowledgment Foreword CHAPTER I. The Fall of the House of Frode CHAPTER II. Randalin, Frode’s Daughter CHAPTER III. Where War-dogs Kennel CHAPTER IV. When Royal Blood Is Young Blood CHAPTER V. Before The King CHAPTER VI. The Training of Fridtjof The Page CHAPTER VII. The Game of Swords CHAPTER VIII. Taken Captive CHAPTER IX. The Young Lord of Ivarsdale CHAPTER X. As The Norns Decree CHAPTER XI. When My Lord Comes Home From War CHAPTER XII. The Foreign Page CHAPTER XIII. When Might Made Right CHAPTER XIV. How The Fates Cheated Randalin CHAPTER XV. How Fridtjof Cheated The Jotun CHAPTER XVI. The Sword of Speech CHAPTER XVII. The Judgment of The Iron Voice CHAPTER XVIII. What The Red Cloak Hid CHAPTER XIX. The Gift of The Elves CHAPTER XX. A Royal Reckoning CHAPTER XXI. With The Jotun as Chamberlain CHAPTER XXII. How The Lord of Ivarsdale Paid His Debt CHAPTER XXIII. A Blood-stained Crown CHAPTER XXIV. On The Road to London CHAPTER XXV. The King’s Wife CHAPTER XXVI. In The Judgment Hall CHAPTER XXVII. Pixie-led CHAPTER XXVIII. When Love Meets Love CHAPTER XXIX. The Ring of The Coiled Snake CHAPTER XXX. When The King Takes a Queen CHAPTER XXXI. The Twilight of The Gods CHAPTER XXXII. In Time’s Morning Acknowledgment For the facts of this romance I have made free use of the following authorities: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; The Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England; Ingulph’s History of the Abbey of Croyland; William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the Kings of England; The Chronicles of Florence of Worcester; Lingard’s History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and Lingard’s History of England; Dean Spencer’s The White Robe of Churches; Collier’s Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain; Montalembert’s Monks of the West; Thrupp’s Anglo-Saxon Home; Hall’s Queens Before the Conquest; Kemble’s Saxons in England; Ridgway’s Gem of Thorney Island; Brayley and Britton’s History of the Ancient Palace and Late Houses of Parliament; Loftie’s Westminster Abbey and Loftie’s History of London; Allen’s History and Antiquities of London; Lappenberg’s History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings; Sharon Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons; Knight’s Old England; Hume’s History of England; Green’s Conquest of England; Thierry’s History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Freeman’s History of the Norman Conquest. For the translations of Hávamál, etc., used at the beginnings of the chapters, I am indebted to Professor Rasmus B. Anderson and Mr. Paul du Chaillu. O. A. L. Chicago, April 1, 1903. Foreword