<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<div class="center"><SPAN name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></SPAN><ANTIMG src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div>
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<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</SPAN></span></p>
<p class="bold2">FREY AND HIS WIFE</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="box">
<p class="bold2">THE<br/>NOVELS OF MAURICE HEWLETT.</p>
<blockquote><p>THE FOREST LOVERS.<br/>A LOVERS' TALE.<br/>
THE QUEEN'S QUAIR.<br/>LITTLE NOVELS OF ITALY.<br/>
RICHARD YEA-AND-NAY.<br/>THE STOOPING LADY.<br/>
FOND ADVENTURES.<br/>NEW CANTERBURY TALES.<br/>
HALFWAY HOUSE.<br/>OPEN COUNTRY.<br/>
REST HARROW.<br/>BRAZENHEAD THE GROUT.<br/>
THE FOOL ERRANT.<br/>SPANISH JADE.</p>
</blockquote></div>
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<div class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/ifrontis.jpg" alt="frontispiece" /></div>
<div class="box2">
<p class="bold">"Gunnar gave her the cloak, and she cast it over Frey's
shoulder, ... while she whispered to him what it was." (Page 126.)</p>
<p class="center"><i>Frey and his Wife</i>]<span class="s15"> </span>[<i>Frontispiece</i></p>
</div>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</SPAN></span></p>
<h1>FREY AND HIS<br/>WIFE</h1>
<p class="bold space-above">BY</p>
<p class="bold2">MAURICE HEWLETT</p>
<p class="bold"><i>Author of "The Forest Lovers," etc.</i></p>
<p class="bold space-above">WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED<br/>
LONDON, MELBOURNE AND TORONTO<br/>1917</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<div class="box">
<table summary="CONTENTS">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="left"><small>CHAP.</small></td>
<td><small>PAGE</small></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">I </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Who and What was Ogmund Ravensson, and why called Ogmund Dint</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_7">7</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">II </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">How Ogmund Dint did Nothing,
and presently sailed Home to Thwartwater; and what
Battle-Glum thought about it all</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_25">25</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">III </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Of King Olaf Trygvasson; and
of Sigurd Helming and Gunnar, his Brother</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_39">39</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">IV </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Ogmund Dint comes again to
Norway, and meets Gunnar on the Hard of Drontheim</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_55">55</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">V </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Ogmund Dint satisfies Himself, and sails Home</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_67">67</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">VI </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Hue-and-Cry for Halward Neck</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_75">75</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</SPAN></span>VII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gunnar crosses the Mountains</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_87">87</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">VIII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gunnar in the Forest hears tell of Frey and his Wonders</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_97">97</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">IX </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gunnar meets with Frey. Concerning Frey's Wife</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_115">115</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">X </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Talk between Gunnar and Sigrid</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_129">129</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XI </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gunnar turns Frey about against Frey's Will</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_145">145</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Winter Feasts</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_159">159</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XIII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Frey makes Ready to go his Rounds</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_171">171</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XIV </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Frey Starts on his Rounds</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_187">187</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XV </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Snowstorm</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_195">195</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XVI </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Marriage of Sigrid</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_205">205</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XVII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Morrow of the Storm</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_211">211</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XVIII </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">News of Frey reaches Norway</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_225">225</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XIX </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Sigurd in Sweden. The Battle of the Ford</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_233">233</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">XX </td>
<td class="left"><span class="smcap">The End of the Tale</span></td>
<td style="vertical-align: bottom"><SPAN href="#Page_247">247</SPAN></td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</SPAN></span></p>
<p class="bold2">WHO AND WHAT WAS OGMUND RAVENSSON, AND WHY CALLED OGMUND DINT</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><span>CHAPTER I</span> <span class="smaller">WHO AND WHAT WAS OGMUND RAVENSSON, AND WHY CALLED OGMUND DINT</span></h2>
<p>It's hard to tell why men could not get along with Ogmund Ravensson; but
so it was, and something must be said about it. He was of thrall-origin,
it is true, for Raven, his father, who became very rich and lived in the
North, in Skaga Firth, had been a thrall. Glum, of Thwartwater, who was
better known as Battle-Glum, had owned him, and had given him his
freedom. More than that, he had taken in fostership his son Ogmund, and
brought him up with his own son, Wigfus, and made much of him, putting
him in a fair way to gain money and renown on his own account. When
Wigfus went out to Norway and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</SPAN></span> took service with Earl Haakon things
stood better than ever for Ogmund; for Glum was ageing and had no other
young man so much in favour about him. A thrall for your father was not
thought well of; but it had not so far stood in Ogmund's way with Glum,
and there must have been more against him than that. Indeed, the tale
says that his mother was related by blood to Battle-Glum, and that would
be more than enough to cover the taint on his father.</p>
<p>He grew up to be a fine, broad-shouldered, portly, upstanding man, with
a black beard; he had a large, flexible nose, strong eyebrows, white
hands. His eyes were somewhat small and near together; grey eyes, and a
cast in one of them. But what of that? Plenty men have it, and no harm
done. Finally, he was a great talker, full of his reasons for or against
a thing. Other men don't like that, I fancy. They don't follow the
reasoning;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</SPAN></span> and the better it is the less they want it. Here are some of
the causes of Ogmund's lack of friends.</p>
<p>But Battle-Glum, who, as I say, was getting old, was averse from change.
He watched him from under bushy white brows, he watched him with quick
eye-blinks, and shut his lips the firmer, men used to think, for fear he
might let fly a volley at the man he had bred up from a child. When the
time came, and Ogmund desired to see the world, Glum furnished a ship
for him and found everything. So it was that Ogmund became a shipman and
began to get on. He made money, and spent money. He had a fine person,
and knew it very well. He was fond of adorning it. He liked furs, and
gold-work; he wore a chain round his neck, and a good ring on his
forefinger. He had as yet no wife in Iceland, but his fancy ran upon a
young woman of good family, of Glum's kindred and, since that was so,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</SPAN></span>
of the kindred of Earl Haakon, of Norway. In the meantime, he had a
bondwoman in Norway, and a steading in very good land not far from the
firth. She was a pretty and good girl who did her duty by him and his
household there, and by her children also who were dependent upon Ogmund
and what Ogmund's whim might be. Her name was Gerda; but she has little
to do with the tale, which begins here with a voyage made by Ogmund some
three years before the coming of King Olaf Trygvasson into Norway.</p>
<p>For this voyage Ogmund bought a new ship from some men in the North, and
embarked a great store of merchantable goods which he had from his
father Raven, as well as what his own money could furnish him forth. All
this he told his foster-father Glum; and then he said, "I hope that you
will take it well in me, Glum, that I ask nothing of you for this
venture."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>To that Glum, blinking hard, replied that there were things which any
man might ask of another without reproach.</p>
<p>"But," said Ogmund, "I would venture what I have of my own, so that what
I win may be my own without cavil."</p>
<p>"That's very fair," said Glum; "and what is it you expect to get out of
the voyage?"</p>
<p>Ogmund laughed a little, and spoke lightly. "Why," he said, "I expect to
get rather more than I give for everything. That is the trader's way,
the chapman's way. If he has a piece of goods that breeds no profit,
overboard with it. It has not earned its stowage."</p>
<p>Now Glum had his lips shut like a trap, and blinked fearfully. "Ah," he
said, "and fame, and great report, and the lifted hands of men—what of
those?"</p>
<p>"They are good," said Ogmund. "Of them, too, you may trust me to render
account."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Such accounts," said Glum, "are not to be made in money."</p>
<p>"Well," said Ogmund. And that was all he did say.</p>
<p>Then Glum looked at him with earnest eyes; and this time he did not
blink at all. "Many a man goes abroad," he said, "who is of no greater
promise than you are, so far as can be seen. Now I have it close at
heart that in the voyage you make you should rather get honour than
store of money. But you may have both, I believe, if you go rightly to
work."</p>
<p>"To be sure I can," said Ogmund; and soon after this—rather late in
midsummer it was—he set out from Thwartwater.</p>
<p class="space-above">They started in fair weather, with a westerly wind which blew steady and
strong. It held them all through the voyage, and when they sighted the
islands which lie close together in the channel of the Hardanger Firth,
it was still blowing steadily.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>But it was dusk when they saw the islands, and close upon nightfall
when they were threading the course between them; and the pilot whom
they had aboard was strong for bringing up for the night in good
anchorage, such as they could have where they were, rather than to push
on and try to make the haven in the dark.</p>
<p>Ogmund, who was in a hurry, said, there was a moon, and they had a fair
wind. Who knew how long it would hold? And suppose that in the morning
it should come off the land, and keep them beating about for a week or
more? He was vehemently for going, and he was master of the ship; so
they went on in the dark.</p>
<p>That which happened might have been foreseen, and very likely was so by
the pilot. In one of the narrow sounds between the islands there were
long ships moored in the fairway. Before they knew it they drove into
one of them amidships, cut her<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</SPAN></span> in half and held on their course.
Whether Ogmund knew it or not—and I suppose he did—that was the way of
it. The crew of the rammed ship were all in the water and most of them
were saved. But none of them were saved by Ogmund's vessel. She ran on
her way before the wind, and made the haven and was drawn up on to the
mainland. The pilot had something to say when he had his ship laid up;
the crew had something to say. There were not two opinions among them.
But Ogmund took a strong line of his own at the time. He said, "The ship
lay in the fairway where no ship has business to be. Every man must take
care of himself first, but no man has a right to risk his life if, in so
doing, he risks the lives of other men. You may take my word for it,
those were no seamen on board that vessel. Why, what are we to think of
men who berth themselves in the fairway, regardless of traffickers who
come and go out of Bergen,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</SPAN></span> so great a town? What of good Icelanders
faring on the sea? Are their lives, is their property, of no account at
all? No, no. We were right and they were wrong; and that is all there is
to say." He went ashore in the morning and made himself busy, disposing
of his merchandise.</p>
<p class="space-above">Now the long ship which he had sunk was one of a fleet of them which
sailed under the ensign of Earl Haakon himself. The master of it was a
man of Iceland called Halward, who had been in Norway for many years, in
the service of the Earl, and was a close friend of his. This Halward was
a great man and a strong man; everybody spoke well of him and desired
his good opinion.</p>
<p>In the morning, when he had heard the news, he went to Earl Haakon and
told him about it. His men were saved; but his ship and all his gear and
merchandise were at the bottom. The Earl was greatly<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</SPAN></span> put out, and his
anger grew as he spoke. "Who and what sort of land-lice are these men?
Are they thralls of Iceland upon a first adventure? Are men of worth and
substance to be tossed into the water like frog-spawn? Now, Halward, you
have my leave to take your due and pleasure of them. It will be a light
matter for you, for you see what sort of cravens they are. Use your wit,
exercise your hands upon them; I give you a free way with them."</p>
<p>Halward thanked the Earl and was for going out then and there to have
the law of his assailants; but Wigfus, Battle-Glum's own son, was
standing by, and had a word to say. It is very possible that he had an
inkling whose ship it was that had been sailed so foully; but if he had
he kept it to himself, and was content to plead with the Earl that
things should go by the law of the land rather than by the power of
Halward's arm. He urged that Halward should take amends from them,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</SPAN></span> if
so be that they were willing, as he had no doubt, to submit themselves
to the judgment of the Earl. "At least," he said, "let Halward agree to
this, that I go myself and find out what men they are, and what sort of
terms may be made with them, supposing that terms may be made at all."
Halward said nothing in reply to this; but the Earl considered the
saying, thought it fair and reasonable, and bade Wigfus see what he
could do. But he said also, "Let these men make no mistake. My plane
makes thick shavings." By that he meant it to be understood that the
fines he should lay would be heavy.</p>
<p>Wigfus betook himself to the ship where men were busy unloading the
merchandise. He soon saw his foster-brother Ogmund, and greeted him
fairly, asking what news of Iceland and his father. Ogmund reported all
well there, and they talked a little about the Thwartwater people. Then
Wigfus opened upon his matter, saying it<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</SPAN></span> was going to be awkward, and
that Ogmund would have a difficult cause to plead.</p>
<p>Ogmund frowned. "How is it to be difficult?" he said. "To my mind it's
as plain as daylight."</p>
<p>"If you had waited for daylight it had been very much better," said
Wigfus, and told him what had been said that morning at the Earl's
council. Then he spoke strongly about the necessity of laying it all to
that lord's judgment; but, "I will do what I can for you, since you are
my foster-brother; and we may not come off so badly after all."</p>
<p>But Ogmund was rather hot, and would not listen to reason. That is the
way of men not too sure of their footing; they fan their eloquence and
take fire from it. He stated his case as he viewed it, and stated it at
length, and several times over. And then he said, "I know this Earl of
yours so well by common report that I shall be careful to have nothing
to do with<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</SPAN></span> his dooms and judgments. Why!" and he spread his hands wide,
palms outwards, "Why! Look at this, Wigfus, that he says beforehand what
he will do to me—with his talk of planing me deep and the like. And if
I will not lay a case before him where he says nothing, how shall I
plead at his judgment-seat when, before a word said, he avows what he
will do?" He was very indignant; but by and by he said, "Mind you, I do
not refuse if he speaks me fair, and keeps an open mind. No, no. I am
not a hard man, far from it. So much you may tell Earl Haakon—to whom,
nevertheless, I owe no allegiance; for I am not of his country, but am
an Icelander, and a well-friended man in those parts."</p>
<p>Wigfus tossed up his chin. "Well, you shall do what seems good, and be
ready to meet what befalls you. If Earl Haakon is angry, you will smart
for it. You have not a rat's chance with him; and in my<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</SPAN></span> opinion you are
talking rank nonsense. But have your own way."</p>
<p>Now then, Wigfus reports to the Earl that Ogmund will abide his
judgment—which was not true, and was even notoriously untrue. So said
one of the Earl's men who was there at the time, and Wigfus could not
deny him.</p>
<p>Then up and spoke Halward, that mighty man, and spoke quietly as mighty
men may. "I believe that Wigfus speaks untruly, and shall take my own
way, by your leave, my lord. I did not need a mediator, and can do much
better without him what I have to do."</p>
<p>Earl Haakon said, "Go on, Halward. Do what becomes thee."</p>
<p>Then said Wigfus, "Give me leave, my lord, to say this. I will be the
death of that man who kills Ogmund, my foster-brother, and kinsman—for
so he is by the mother-side."</p>
<p>Said Halward, "You talk over-big,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</SPAN></span> Wigfus," and Wigfus said, "I come of
a strong stock."</p>
<p>"I know that you do," said Halward; "I know that the Icelanders are good
men. But I know this too, that the custom of my country will not suffer
a man to be injured without amends offered or taken. Neither
Battle-Glum, nor you neither, shall stay me from avenging a shame done
me." And Earl Haakon said that they should not.</p>
<p>Then Halward went down to the shore to board the Iceland ship; but he
found that she had been run down into the water since the morning, and
was now moored a bowshot out. So he took boat and was rowed out to the
ship. There on the poop he saw Ogmund standing with his arms folded.</p>
<p>"Are you the master of this ship?" says Halward. Ogmund said that he
was.</p>
<p>"I have a case against you, as you know very well, and have come to see
what sort of amends you think of offering me."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Ogmund said, "We will make amends if you don't ask too much."</p>
<p>Halward's neck grew red. "It would not be easy to ask too much for
insolence and knavery like yours."</p>
<p>"On those terms," said Ogmund, "we cannot deal with you."</p>
<p>"That suits me better," Halward said, and made a jump for the bulwark of
the ship. He swung himself up as easily as a boy into a row-boat; and
the moment he was on deck, he aimed at Ogmund with the hammer-end of his
axe, and felled him like a bullock. Down he went, and never stirred.
Some of the shipmen who were in the forepart of the ship saw it all
done; but not one of them cared to move. Halward was a very big man.</p>
<p>At leisure he went over the side into his boat, and was pulled ashore.
Then he went to Earl Haakon and told him what he had done. "You have
done well," said the Earl.</p>
<hr />
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