And from across the "has-been" they look, the heroes of old--Wulnoth, and Wahrmund, and Osric, Guthrun, Guthred, and Alfred; and to you, their descendants, they cry in the cry of the old Northland, to follow their steps, and be heroes in your day as they in theirs, and follow the White Christ Whom they loved and served, when they cast aside the gods of the Northland. To you they cry, you sons of the Saxons-- "Skoal! Skoal! Skoal!" THE END FOOTNOTES: [1] This story of Regner Lodbrok is one of the most noted in all the old sagas, and there are many concerning his wonderful deeds. Regner was called _Lodbrok_ on account of thus wrapping himself up in skins to fight the dragon. Some old writers who wrote in Latin translate the name into _Villosa femoralia_, which means hairy trousers. [2] This legend of the death of Regner Lodbrok is the one most common in his histories. But there is another, and more probable, story, which tells how he, having been received by Edmund, afterwards known as the martyr king of East Anglia, was murdered by the King's huntsman, and hidden in a wood. The body was found by Regner's dog, who scraped the leaves away and revealed the crime. For this the huntsman was placed in a boat which was unseaworthy and cast adrift; and the boat, surviving the tempests, drifted to Denmark, where the guilty man, to save himself, put the crime at Edmund's door. As it was East Anglia which was first invaded by Hungwar and Hubba, and not Northumbria, this story seems the more probable; and especially so in view of the fact that Hungwar and Hubba put their royal captive Edmund to death in the most barbarous fashion afterwards. [3] It was at a place called Hoxne, in Sussex, that this battle was fought; and the spot where it is said that King Edmund hid is known as Goldbridge. Whether the story of the king cursing the place is true or not, the legend was known at Hoxne until quite recently; and no bride or bridegroom would venture to cross Goldbridge upon their wedding day. [4] The body of King Edmund was at first buried secretly by his friends, but afterwards it was taken up and carried to Badrichesworth, now called Bury St. Edmunds; and here, later, a monastery was founded in honor of the Martyr King, by the Danish King Canute, himself a Christian. [5] King Alfred was born at Wantage, not far from the White Horse of Berkshire. The White Horse itself, cut in the chalk, was probably the work of the early Jutes under Hengist and Horsa, which names, by the way, signify a horse and a mare. The white horse was the ensign of the Old Saxons; and hence it is, to this day, found upon the shield of Brunswick and Hanover. There exists near Wantage, the remains of the ancient _long barrow_ or burying place, called Weyland Smith's forge, celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of "Kenilworth." It owes its name to the old Norse deity, _Volundr_, who was the blacksmith of their mythology, as Vulcan was amongst the Greeks and Romans.