Jarl Sigurd and the Hulder.
In the perilous land, where the North-winds leap1
From their caverns and dungeons drear ;2
And the sun lies asleep, full three moons deep,3
In the winter of half a year ;4
And the snowclots fall in a ghostly pall5
On the corpse of the old grey earth,6
And the Nord-fires fly through the star-sprent sky7
In flashes of silent birth,8
There be phantoms that go o’er the desolate snow9
Which reck not of darkness and cold,10
And the Were-wolf shambles with wild eyes aglow,11
As he waits for the wandering Trold.12
He girds at his foe with a fang-guarded growl,13
But the Trold little careth for him ;14
He glares as he passes him cheek by jowl,15
For he is more crafty and grim.16
There be Dvergs that abide on the drear hill-side,17
And Kobolds deep down in the mine ;18
And Nökker that float in their foam-built boat19
In the warp of the wan moonshine.20
There be lovelier maidens that dwell on the wold21
Than ever were born unto man,22
But their delicate cheeks are centuries old23
And the blood in their veins grew curdled and cold24
Or ever the years began.25
They are hollow and void as a surf-driven shell,26
And they may not endure in the day,27
But the glamour and grief of their pitiless spell28
Abideth for ever and aye.29
There is measureless woe for the doom-driven wight30
Who may list to their magical horn,31
Who hath tasted their love in the kisses of night,32
And awakes to the terrors of morn.—33
Jarl Sigurd arose, but his brow was bent34
As he fastened his trusty Skj.35
For the welkin was wild, and the firmament36
Swirled up like an angry sea.37
He wist not why, and he knew not how,38
Adrift like a rudderless bark,39
He clomb to the top of the mountain’s brow,40
And he dived through the forest dark.41
Through tasseling birch and pendent pine,42
In the clutch of the frozen snow ;43
Like monsters vast with stony eyne44
Their arms swung to and fro’.45
The five months night was almost done,46
And the dawn of the day was nigh,47
For the scarlet scouts of the coming sun48
Had peered o’er the southern sky.49
Like ships that flee o’er a storm-swept sea,50
The moon and stars sped on,51
Till wrapped in the shroud of a billowy cloud52
They vanished,—one by one.53
The Jarl passed on. With fated tread54
He tracked the gathering gloom ;55
His soul was a-chill with the chill of the dead,56
And his brow with the damp of the tomb.57
At the foot of the Hulder crag he stood,58
By the lake which hath never a shore ;59
The sweltering surge seemed flecked with blood,60
There was doom in its ominous roar.61
For the ice-floes crashed with white teeth gnashed,62
And clamorous jaws outspread,63
But the skeleton crew crawled onward anew64
Like the hosts of the sheeted dead.65
Far down in the womb of that shoreless wave66
There glimmered a crimson glow ;67
For the bale-fire that blazed in the witches’ cave68
Illumined the depths below.69
But a clear voice rang through the tempest’s might70
From the storm-riven crags afar ;71
The arrows of song pierced the armour of night72
Like the beams of the morning star.73
“ Woe is me for hearts that slumber,74
Feet that linger, lips that fail ;75
Doling kisses out by number,76
Pleading grace with eyelids pale.77
“ Jarl and Viking, famed in story,78
Baldur’s boast, and Freya’s son ;79
Love is fitting mate for Glory,80
Love and I this night are one.81
“ Brave no more the boisterous billow,82
Tempt no more the storm’s unrest,83
Make my heart thy tranquil pillow,84
In the haven of my breast.”85
He felt her approach like a softer air,86
He guessed that her beauty was nigh,87
He knew that the fiend was spreading her snare,88
He knew, yet he could not fly.89
The elf-horns rang with an eldritch clang,90
The witch-harps whispered and sighed ;91
Whilst ever and aye, ’mid the minstrelsy,92
Her low voice lilted and died.93
She wrought a spell with her glittering eyes,94
She wove a charm with her lips ;95
And she stole his heart as a willing prize96
From the depth of his soul’s eclipse.97
Between two words a little kiss,98
Till words came all too few ;99
“ Dear love, for such a night of bliss,100
The day must turn to rue.”101
“ Ah, leave me not in love’s despite.”102
Yet never a word did he say ;103
But he prayed in his heart that the winter’s night104
Might never give place unto day.105
With a sudden glow, over forest and snow,106
The sun blazed forth at a bound.107
The elf-horns wailed as the storm-winds go,108
The witch-harps shrieked like a spirit in woe,109
Then shivered and gave no sound.110
But what hath befallen that angel face,111
And why have those lips grown so cold,112
Will she melt like the snow from his wildered embrace,113
Will she cease, like a tale that is told ?114
Her azure eyes were as colourless glass,115
For through them the sunbeams fell ;116
And the smile that struggled her lips to pass117
Was the smile of a fiend from hell.118
“ Oh, void and hollow,” loud she cried,119
“ Oh, empty, void and hollow.”120
And every sunlit crag replied,121
“ Oh, empty, void and hollow.”122
Yet still her breath strove hard to speak,123
And break her lips’ blue door,124
Then burst in one despairing shriek,125
“ Ah, love, return once more.”126
And so she vanished, like the night,127
And in the tarn below128
No bale-fire flared with a fitful light,129
But the shimmering sunbeam’s glow.130
The Jarl stood long, as one distraught,131
Amid the glare of day ;132
Forlorn and lost and brought to nought133
He took his homeward way.134
Homeward,—henceforth on earth no home135
Could house his heart’s unrest ;136
He drifted like the floating foam137
Which crowns the billow’s crest.138
For seven long months of moonless day139
He fed his dull despair ;140
In the stony lap of the Fjeld he lay141
With the wolf and the fox and the bear.142
Sweet voices sighed on every breeze,143
Low whisperings filled the sky,144
Fair forms stole through the moss-grown trees,145
Beckoned, but came not nigh.146
He questioned the depths of the shoreless lake,147
Where only the sunbeams shone ;148
He bade the witch-crag’s echoes awake,149
Their voices re-echoed his own.150
The light-tipped waves which lingered near,151
As though they sought a shore,152
But lipped one language to his ear,153
“ Oh, love, return once more.”154
It thundered from the cloven cloud,155
It rang along the hill,156
It pealed in echoes long and loud,157
It woke when all was still.158
It wooed him from the purling streams,159
It kissed him from the air,160
It filled his lone, love-haunted dreams161
With fancies fond and fair.162
But now the summer sun lay dead,163
Dead whilst the moon was new,164
And never a star in the over-head165
Could glimmer the storm-clouds through.166
So came the night for which he sighed167
Seven dreary months in vain,168
To bring again his love, his bride,169
His bliss,—perchance his bane.170
Fierce roared the blast, the small-eyed bear171
To his gruesome den had gone.172
The wolf and the fox were in their lair,173
Yet still he hurried on.174
Past many an ice-beleaguered creek,175
Whose waters roared below ;176
Till he stood at the foot of the Hulder peak,177
Aflame in the lightning’s glow.178
But far above the driving gale179
The old sweet voice rang clear,180
It thrilled him through the lashing hail,181
The thunder and the fear.182
“ I wait, like the stars, for thy coming,183
I swoon, like the eve, till we meet,184
I pale, like the moon in the gloaming,185
I fall, like the dew, at thy feet.186
“ Then leave me not longing and lonely ;187
The sun to some far world hath flown.188
Thine am I, thine ever, thine only,189
My hero, my lover, mine own.”190
Then silence fell on the storm-swept earth,191
Entranced by that meteor song,192
Which seemed a thing of heavenly birth,193
And died the stars among.194
Soft smiled the Jarl, then strong in love,195
He raised his arms on high,196
And sent his voice to the voice above197
In answering, longing cry.198
“ I, too, have waited, day-belated,199
With my fears, a countless throng.200
But I find thee, and will bind thee201
By the promise of thy song.202
“ Do I dream, ne’er let me waken,203
Never sleep if now I wake ;204
Every other hope forsaken,205
Earth and heaven, for thy sweet sake.”206
Then, fair as a Goddess who visits her shrine,207
She floated and sank by his side.208
Oh, was she a demon or was she divine,209
A phantom, an angel, a bride ?210
He held her awhile in his straining arms,211
And she sealéd the bond with a kiss.212
For never a one of the fiend’s dread charms213
Is fraught with the peril of this.214
So she led him adown the steep hill-side,215
To the lake which hath never a shore ;216
And she lulled him to sleep in its fathomless tide217
For ever and evermore.218