Ebba

“ Nor can I ever grow into the nearly worn out victim of pleasure, still less the sorrowful, heavy-hearted priestess, whose service has lost its charm. Nay, for the twenty years I may spend here my life shall at least be happier than that of my poor mother, who died, as some have said, by poison, administered by a slave whom she had hated. Yet, how beautiful she was in the atrium at Verulam, with Ebba—dear Ebba—standing at her side. ”

“ But the reason is good, nevertheless. The old faith must be protected and defended, if it be possible.”
Ebba’s lips were seen to move, but no sound passed them.
“These Christians,” the lady continued, “are trying to upset, and pull down, and destroy our religion and our worship; it is only meet that they should be hindered from further mischief.”
Again Ebba’s lips moved, and the child, looking up, thought she caught the words—
“They cannot be hindered, for God is for them.”
“Ebba is murmuring to herself, mother,” Hyacintha said. “Bid her to speak so that we may hear.” ”

“ As the Ebba draws nearer, the island, or rather islet, towards which she is speeding shows more sharply against the blue background of the sky. The sun which has passed the zenith, shines full upon the western side. ”

“ The poor young man, stupefied at this reception, looked down mechanically, with his hand on his waistcoat and his cravat, and did not dare to approach his rigorous mistress.
"Alete, Alete," said Ebba, with a voice of supplication, "how can you be so cruel!"
Alete, satisfied beyond doubt by the respectful submission with which her Reproaches had been received, sprang to the neck of her betrothed, and said,
"But I love my dear Eric truly. If I sometimes play the magnificent with him, it is to make him think that he has himself, in a noble epistle, called me his sovereign. Is not this so, Eric?" ”

“ Although Ebba could act with decision on occasion, she did not succeed in maintaining strict discipline in her monastery, for abuses crept in. One of the monks, named Adamnan, was warned in a vision that the place would be burnt to ashes as a punishment for the laxity of the inhabitants. Even the cells, which were built for prayer, were converted into places of revelling, drinking, conversation, and other amusements ”

“ Some monks were singing in a church on the cliff, afterwards called by her name. They saw the boat, steered through tremendous waves by a superhuman being, come safely to land a little to the south of the Head, and on that spot she built her church and monastery.
Here she ruled one of the double communities of monks and nuns usual in those times and always governed by the abbess. She invited St. Cuthbert, abbot of Melrose, and afterwards of Lindisfarne, to visit her and her nuns. He generally avoided the society of women, but thought so highly of Ebba that he came to stay with her ”

“ It is true, Gösta, that I wished to keep you near me at Ekeby. There is something about you which makes every one rejoice to be with you. If you had shown a wish to be a settled man, I would have given you much power. I always hoped that you would find a good wife. First, I thought that it would be Marianne Sinclair, for I saw that she loved you already, when you lived as wood-cutter in the wood. Then I thought that it would be Ebba Dohna, and [466] one day I drove over to Borg and told her that if she would have you for husband, I would leave you Ekeby in my will. ”

“ You sometimes have seen large circles of grass in the meadows trampled down. They are traced by the elves, as they dance in the summer night when the moon is shining. Wo to the wanderer, wo to the young girl, who at that time passes near them. The elves invite them to join in the dance, and sometimes drag them by force away. Into the veins of any one who comes within their circle, a secret poison is infused, which makes him languish and die. I tell you, I fear that Ebba, good and charitable as she is, has been surprised by those accursed beings ”

“ Lah and her subjects worshipped chiefly, and with dread, two singular powers: Hed, the serpent god whose spirit dwelt in the body of a monstrous python, called the holy Snake; and Edba, the moon goddess.
Hed gave victory in battle, revenge over enemies, success in various undertakings. Edba gave the crops and increase to the people.
70Hed was worshipped by bloody sacrifices; Edba, by offerings of fruit and flowers, save on the great yearly feast, when she, too, demanded that a human life be poured forth before her altar. ”

“ He had charged the girl to tell Hosea that Nun had promised his people that his son would abandon the Egyptians and cleave to his own race. The tribe of Ephraim, nay the whole Hebrew nation had hailed these tidings with the utmost joy. Eliab would give him fuller details; she herself had been well nigh dazed with weeping and anxiety. He would earn the richest blessings if he would only follow her.
The soldier realized at once that he must fulfil this desire, but he was obliged to defer his visit to the old slave until the nest morning. ”

“ Rejoice, my brother, for thou shalt rest now”; and straightway the angel of God administered unto them the Holy Mysteries; and Abba ‘Ebelo the shepherd died forthwith. And the angels took up his soul and flew up with it into the heights, and the desert monk wept for him, saying, “What shall I do? I am an old man, and I cannot carry thy body, and I have nothing wherewith to dig [a grave for thee] .” And straightway two lions came and crouched by the body of Abba ‘Ebelo, and they made signs with their heads to the desert monk, as much as to say unto him, “What shall we do?” ”

“ Els, who sat by Cordula's side, drew her towards her and kissed her gratefully; but Eva's eyes had filled with tears of grief at the beginning of the countess's report of this new insult, and the hostility of so many of the townsfolk; yet she succeeded in controlling herself. She would not weep. She had even forced herself to gaze, without the quiver of an eyelash, at the sorrowful and horrible spectacle outside of the "Hole." She must cease being a weak child. ”

“ Moreover, there was no plant, no flower, no cry of any animal in the woods which was not familiar to the Abbess Kunigunde. Like St. Francis; she distinguished in everything which the ear heard and the eye beheld voices that bore witness to the goodness and greatness of the Most High. The abbess felt bound by ties of sisterly affection to every one of God’s creatures, and taught Eva to love them, too, and, as a person who treats a child kindly wins the mother’s heart also, to obtain by love of his creatures that of the Creator. ”

“ Here he went up to a village and rested over night in a barn. Meantime his sorrowful fate had made a deep impression upon the people. A bard had composed a song reciting the woes of Ebbe, and a soothsayer had predicted that upon hearing the song sung Ebbe’s chains would fall off and his death follow immediately. While he was [63] lying concealed in the barn, a milkmaid came in the morning to milk the cows. She began to sing “Knight Ebbe’s Song,” to which he listened with intense interest. At the conclusion of the last verse he cried out with loud voice: “Some is true and some is false.” ”

“ And Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill turned his three heads around in order to see the beautiful maiden, too. Then the sun rose, and the troll stiffened into stone. Now Ebe obtained all the riches that the troll had possessed, the sheep and goats, the cows and all the spirited horses, and the handsome golden castle, and some big bags of money besides.
“Here come the king and all his court,” said the cat. “Just go out before the door and receive them!” So Ebe got up and went to meet them.
“You are indeed a very distinguished lord!” said the king to him. ”

“ After all, we all see things as we wish to see them. I would lay a wager, dame Joanna, that you are of my opinion in thinking the fair Paula a perfectly noble creature. Aye, a noble creature; it is an expressive word and God knows! How seldom is it a true one? It is one I am little apt to use, but I know no other for such as she is, and on her it is not ill-bestowed."
"Indeed it is not!" answered Joanna with warm assent; but Martina sighed, for she was thinking to herself! "Poor Heliodora! ”

“ When the lord high steward announced to the maid of honour who had brought Eva here that dessert was served, the latter believed that the dreaded moment when she would be presented to the Emperor was close at hand, but quarter of an hour after quarter of an hour passed and she still heard the clanking of metal and the voices of the guests, which now began to grow louder, and amidst which she sometimes distinguished the strident tones of the court fool, Eyebolt, and the high ones of the Countess Cordula. ”

“ Here Eliab interrupted her to say that they owed this and many more valuable things to the goodness of Nun, Hosea’s father, who had given them, besides their little hut, wine, meal for bread, a milch cow, and also an ass, so that he could often ride out into the fresh air. He had likewise left them their granddaughter and some pieces of silver, so that they could look forward without fear to the end of their days, especially as they had behind the house a bit of ground, where Hogla meant to raise radishes, onions, and leeks for their own table. ”

“ The glory of Edba and of Hed is darkened, and our bodies, reverenced throughout the ages, shall crumble to dust, and be scattered through the world by every varying wind. A woman hath wrought great things for the Walled City. A woman shall pluck down even that which she hath set up. Speak, O my brothers! What price shall the stranger pay?”
Then a low, wrathful murmur filled that ancient Hall, to which I, still gloating over my treasure, my ruby without price, listened without fear. ”

“ The crowd grew denser every moment, and Eva had already asked her sister to turn back, when Els saw the man who brought to her father the summons to the meetings of the Council, and requested him to accompany them through the throng to the courtyard; but amidst the uproar of shouts and cries he misunderstood her, and supposing that she wished to witness the spectacle which had attracted so many, forced a way for the sisters into the very front rank. ”

“ Not until Els stooped to pick it up did he calm himself, saying, with a shrug of the shoulders, "Who can remain unmoved when the whirlwind of despair seizes him? When a swarm of hornets attacks a horse, and it rears, who wonders? And I—What stings and blows has Fate spared me?" Els ventured to speak soothingly to him, and remind him of God, and the saints to whom he had made such generous offerings in building the convent; but this awakened an association, and he asked if it were true that Eva had refused to take the veil. ”

“ Utterly amazed at the marvel, Ubbe went away silently, and returned with all the garrison of his castle to the room where his guests still lay sleeping. As they gazed on the light Havelok turned in his sleep, and they saw on his shoulder the golden cross, shining like the sun, which all men knew to be the token of royal birth. Then Ubbe exclaimed: “Now I know who this is, and why I loved him so dearly at first sight: this is the son of our dead King Birkabeyn. Never was man so like another as this man is to the dead king: he is his very image and his true heir.” ”

“ It would do her good to descend to the lowest ranks and measure her own better fate by their misery. She who felt bereaved could always be the giver in the hospital, and she felt with subtle sympathy what attracted Eva to her sufferers.
The magistrate’s wife was a religious matron, devoted to her Church, but in her youth she had been by no means fanatical. The Abbess Kunigunde, her younger sister, however, had fought before her eyes the conflict of the soul, which had finally sent the beautiful, much-admired girl within convent walls. ”

“ Though my mother, and even my grandmother, urged her to go, she insisted that she belonged to the twins, and that some evil would befall the little ones if she left them.”
“That is noble!” cried Els in delight, “and if I should ever—-. Yet no, Isabella and I cannot be compared. My husband will never be numbered among the admirers of another woman, like your detestable brother-in-law. Besides, he is wasting time with Cordula. Her worldliness repels Eva, it is true, but I have heard many pleasant things about her. ”

“ The countess perceived it, and shrugged her shoulders pityingly.
Eva, dissatisfied with herself, continued to gaze down into the street long after the crowds of people flocking from the city had concealed Cordula from her eyes. It seemed as though she would never again succeed in anything that would bring contentment. Never had she felt so weak, so ill-tempered, so devoid of self-reliance. Yet she could not, as usual, seek consolation with her saint. ”

“ And the angel answered and said unto her, “This is he whom God hath chosen”; and after the angel had said this he disappeared from her. And having grown up, Abba Besoy longed to wear the garb of the ascetic life, and he went to the desert of Scete and became a monk with Saint Abba Bamoy, who arrayed him in the apparel of Saint Abba John the Short. And he fought an exceedingly great fight, and he fasted three times for forty days at a time, and ate nothing whatsoever until the end of the forty days [on each occasion] . ”

“ Vilkinasaga makes Ebbo (Wild-Ebur) appear in the guise of a bear when he is about to rescue Volund's son Vidga from the captivity into which he had fallen. In his shield Ebbo has images of a wild boar and of a bear. As the wild boar refers to one of his names (Ebur) , the image of the bear should refer to another (Isolfr) .
Under such circumstances there can be no doubt that Orvandel-Egil and one of his brothers, the one designated by the name Aggo (Ajo) , be this Volund or Slagfin, were entrusted in the mythology with the duty of fostering the young Frey. ”