Ragnhild

“ He accepted an invitation from Hávard, and at that feast he and Ragnhild talked much together. She said that it was more suitable that such a man as he should be 208chief and Earl than Hávard his kinsman, adding that the woman was well married who had him for a husband. Einar told her not to speak of such things, saying that Hávard was the noblest man in the Islands, and that she was well matched. Ragnhild replied: “Hávard and I shall not be long together after this. But it is true that men will be found in the Islands who will not stick at trifles if you grudge me the dignity.” ”

“ Later, the gleaming knife in the hands of Lars, showed that he but too plainly understood the nature of the performance in which his future wife had been engaged. And the sequel well attests, that his happiness did not increase with his knowledge. Even the vigor of a Norwegian climate was not sufficient to cool his fury. What a promising field for future operations must sunnier climes present for such enterprising young gentlemen.
Follow the subject a little further and it will be seen that Ragnhild lost more than her head in the bewildering whirl. ”

“ But they were not to be allowed to have further private conversation that afternoon; for Bedstemor, now recovered from the first shock of Bedstefar's death, came across from her own house to the Gaard. Ragnhild hurried out to the porch, and begged Fröken Knudsgaard to keep Bedstemor by her side and prevent her from making a descent on the kitchen, where already great preparations were going on for the funeral feast.
"Bedstemor is going to give trouble!" Ragnhild whispered. "Thou knowest she likes to have everything very, very grand. She wants us to do twice as much as we are doing. ”

“ Ay, he looked like Sigurd Ribbung.
136Sigrid. Laughed he like Sigurd?
Lady Ragnhild. Ay, ay!
Sigrid. Then must we all pray.
Lady Ragnhild. [With the force of despair.] The Earl must be chosen King! ’Twill work ruin in his soul if he be not the first man in the land!
Sigrid. [More loudly.] Then must we all pray!
Lady Ragnhild. Hist! What is that? [At the window.] What shouts! All the men have risen; all the banners and standards wave in the wind.
Sigrid. [Seizes her by the arm.] Pray, woman! Pray for your husband!
Lady Ragnhild. Ay, Holy King Olaf, give him all the power in this land! ”

“ Ragnhild would have nothing to do with him, saying it was a mere lie that she had given him any promises. Then she sent for Einar Hardkiöpt (hard mouth) , who was the son of another sister of Hávard. And when they met, she said it was a great shame to Hávard’s kinsmen that they did not avenge him, adding that she would do anything that the Earl might be avenged. “It is evident,” she said, “that he who avenges the Earl will be most esteemed by good people, and will most deserve his dominions.” Einar replied: “It is said that you sometimes speak differently from what you think. ”

“ The names of Snefrid's sons were Sigurd Rise (Giant) , Gudröd Ljome, Halfdan Haalegg (Longlegs) , and Ragnvald Rettilbeine.
The only one of King Harold's wives who was of royal birth was Ragnhild, the daughter of King Erik the Younger in South Jutland. She replied, when he first sent messengers to woo her, that she would not marry the mightiest king in all the world, if she had to put up with one thirtieth part of his affection. To a second message she replied that she would marry King Harold if he would put away all his other wives. This he consented to do, and made Ragnhild his queen. ”

“ The next Christmas Haakon went to King Harald to ask the fulfilment of the pledges given him. The king said that he, for his part, would adhere to the whole agreement; but as for Ragnhild it would be necessary for Haakon to ask her consent himself. When Haakon came to Ragnhild, and paid his addresses to her, she answered: “I have no fault to find with thee, for thou art a handsome man, expert in all exercises. But thou must remember I am a king’s daughter, while thou art only a lenderman. Had my father, King Magnus, lived he would have found that no man less than a king was suitable for me ”

“ Lady Ragnhild. [Half to herself.] King Skule had to flee into the church, you say! He, he, a fugitive! begging 325at the altar for peace—begging for his life mayhap—oh no, no, that could never be; but God will punish you who dared to let it come to this!
Margrete. My dear, dear mother, curb yourself; you know not what you say; ’tis your grief that speaks.
Lady Ragnhild. Hear me, ye Birchlegs! ’Tis Håkon Håkonsson that should lie before the altar, and beseech King Skule for life and peace.
A Birchleg. It ill beseems loyal men to listen to such words. ”

“ Like Ragnhild, Käthchen is compelled by a mysterious, inexplicable power to follow the man she loves wherever he goes, to steal secretly after him, to lay herself down to sleep near him, to come back to him, as by some innate compulsion, however often she may be driven away. And other instances of supernatural interference are to be met with both in Kleist’s and in Hertz’s play. ”

“ The kitchen had already become the scene of increased industry; and Ragnhild would soon be cooking countless jellies and innumerable fancy biscuits. No cakes were to be made; for, according to custom, the guests would bring them on the day of the funeral, or send them the day before. A sheep, an ox, and a calf were to be killed that very evening, and some one would be sent to bring back fresh Mysost from the Saeter. And two days before the burial, Jens and a fair-haired cousin Olaf would go up into the mountains to bring back a good supply of trout from the lake. ”

“ They were packed in their carioles, gigs, and carriages, and their [322] cake-baskets were returned to them, etiquette demanding that each guest should take away a portion of another guest's funeral-cake offering. Ragnhild's sweetheart was the last to go. Knutty watched with lynx eyes to see if there was going to be any outward and visible sign of the interest which they felt in each other; but she detected none.
"Well, they must be very much in love with each other," she said to Gerda, "for there is not a single flaw in their cloak of sulkiness. Ak, ak, kjaere, I am glad the funeral is over. ”

“ These lands would of right descend to Eric's eldest son, Harald Ungi, and on his death without issue, to his brothers if alive, and, failing them, to his sisters and their heirs, as happened in the case of Ragnhild and her son Snaekoll Gunni's son, neither Ingibiorg nor Elin receiving any share of this property, for reasons now undiscoverable, but which we shall endeavour to explain later, by presuming that one of them had died unmarried, or had married abroad, while the other and her descendants were amply provided for otherwise by marriage with Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. ”

“ The Murder of Havard. 184. Thorfinn had five sons. One was named Hávard Arsæli (blessed with good seasons) , the second Hlödver, the third Liót, the fourth Skúli, and the fifth Arnfinn. Ragnhild, the daughter of Eirík, killed her husband Arnfinn at Myrkhol (Murkle) , in Caithness, and then she married Hávard Arsæli, his brother. He became Earl, and was a good chief, and blessed with good seasons. There was a man named Einar Klíning (buttered bread) , the son of Hávard’s sister. He was a great chief, and had many men, and went usually on war expeditions during the summer. ”

“ With every year that passed he approached nearer to his goal—to be the ruler of all Norway. Many of the mightiest men in the land who had hitherto held aloof now offered him their services, and were glad to accept honors at his hands. Among these were the earl Haakon Grjotgardsson of Haalogaland, and Ragnvald, late earl of Möre, who was the father of Duke Rollo of Normandy, and through William the Conqueror the ancestor of the kings of England. Ragnvald was a brave and sagacious man, who assisted the king with counsel and with deeds, and became his most intimate friend and adviser. ”

“ Ragnfrod sailed with his fleet southward to Stad, for he feared him that the land hosts might assemble and flock to Earl Hakon. But that earl waged war no more for unto his mind the difference betwixt the ships was over-great. In the autumn fared he north to Throndhjem, & there abode during the winter. King Ragnfrod therefore held all the land south of Stad: the Fjords, Sogn, Hordaland, and Rogaland. Many men were at his beck throughout that winter, and when the spring-tide came called he a muster and gat him many more. ”

“ The times when we need prayers or counsel, we are little like to be in a mood to learn, nor yet to understand.”
Ragnfrid drew her dark eyebrows together thoughtfully. At such times her bright, deep-set eyes looked like barns below a dark-wooded hillside, so Kristin had often thought when she was little—or so she had heard others say. Lady Aashild looked at Ragnfrid with her little half-smile, and the mother seated herself upon the edge of the hearth, and taking a twig, stuck it into the embers. ”

“ In 1148, Ragnvald decided to visit King Ingi in Norway, taking Harold Maddadson, then a boy of fifteen, with him.23 There he meets Eindridi, who had been long in Micklegarth, as Constantinople was then called by the Norse, probably in the Emperor's service as one of the Varangian Guard; and ships are built for a voyage to the East. But both he and Harold are wrecked in "The Help" and "The Arrow," at Gulberwick, south of Lerwick, on the Shetland coast, all on board, however, being saved, and Ragnvald, as usual, making verses and fun of it all, and of many other things. ”

“ But Randalin’s head was shaking too decidedly, though she was not ungentle in her answering. “I give you thanks, Sister Wynfreda, but such a life is not for me. My nature is such that I do not like the gloomy songs you sing; nor do I care for green things, except to wear in my hair. And it seems to me that I should be spiritless and a coward if I should like such a life. I am no English girl, to tremble and hide under a mean kirtle. I am a Norse maiden, the kinswoman of warriors. ”

“ Fru Boyesen's bewildered and horrified face had amused him intensely, but he realized that to push the matter further might seriously harm Ragna's cause, so he contented himself with replying:
"I am sure, Madam, that your niece will not disappoint you in the end; but if you really desire her welfare, do not urge the matter for the present, I beg of you. Give the child time—that is a panacea for all ills, you know. She is very young, and should she marry merely to please you, her inevitable unhappiness would be heavy on your conscience." ”

“ Her two sisters would talk of when Uncle Olaf should come home, of the riches he would bring, and the wonderful tales of adventure in far countries he would tell, but only Ragna knew that he would never come, that his mysterious doom was to sail on and on till the Judgment Day, longing for peace and home, family and joy, but never to find them; seeing his comrades grow old and grey, and die—but himself, always young, always stretching longing arms toward the happiness and rest he might never attain to—and so on and on for ever, till the end of the world. ”

“ Tordis looked in between whiles, and would fain have helped, but Ragnfrid sent her out each time. Kristin wept silently and prayed to herself, but all the while she thought of the witch-wife and waited eagerly to see her come in.
Suddenly Ragnfrid asked in the silence:
“Are you sleeping, Lavrans?”
“No,” answered her husband. “I am listening to Ulvhild. God will surely help His innocent lamb, wife—we dare not doubt it. But ’tis weary lying here waiting—”
“God,” said Ragnfrid, hopelessly, “hates me for my sins. ”

“ Ragna, your mother and I have decided that you must go away; you must go to a school where you can learn more than is possible here. Fru Bjork, a relative of your mother's, is taking her daughter to a convent in Paris, and I have written to her asking her to take you also, and to place you in the convent with Astrid. You are sixteen—two years in Paris will do more for you than a lifetime here. The mother and I shall miss you—but an Andersen must have the best, and I believe I can trust you to make the most of this opportunity. ”

“ Ragna walked on, away from her sisters and away from the house. Her path lay some way through the woods, then across two or three pastures and out to a rocky point overlooking the fjord. She marched on, looking neither to the right nor to the left, consumed with vexation for having been so easily led on to retort. Of course Lotte had been annoying, but she had always been a bundle of curiosity. And how sharp the child was! "I must be a transparent fool," thought poor Ragna, "if any child can see through me like that!" ”

“ If she had frankly opened her heart to her aunt, and had thrown herself on the good woman's mercy, the appeal would have had its effect after Fru Boyesen's horror and indignation had had time to cool, but poor Ragna, half from shame and despair, half from the desire to spare her family the inevitable sorrow entailed by a disclosure, had not been able to bring herself to a frank confession. ”

“ Ragna, clutching her domino about her, raised her eyes to her rescuer's face and uttered an involuntary exclamation:
"Count Angelescu! You here!"
"Mademoiselle Andersen!" he said, "I had been watching you for some time, but I was not sure, there are so many black dominoes. Then when those devils—but never mind, since I have found you. Take my arm and let me get you out of this; I must talk to you and it is impossible here!" ”