“Now stepped Halfdan in
    Over the brazen threshold, and with wistful look
    Stood silent, at a distance from the dreaded one. 
    Then Frithiof loosed the Harness-hater from his thigh,
    Against the altar placed the golden buckler round,
    And forward came unarmed to meet his enemy: 
    ‘In such a strife,’ thus he commenced, with friendly voice,
    ‘The noblest he who first extends the hand of peace.’ 
    Then blushed King Halfdan deep, and drew his gauntlet off,
    And long-divided hands now firmly clasped each other,
    A mighty pressure, steadfast as the mountain’s base. 
    The old man then absolved him from the curse which lay
    Upon the Varg i Veum,[1] on the outlawed man. 
    And as he spake the words, fair Ingeborg came in,
    Arrayed in bridal dress, and followed by fair maids,
    E’en as the stars escort the moon in heaven’s vault. 
    Whilst tears suffused her soft and lovely eyes, she fell
    Into her brother’s arms, but deeply moved he led
    His cherished sister unto Frithiof’s faithful breast,
    And o’er the altar of the god she gave her hand
    Unto her childhood’s friend, the darling of her heart.” 
                   TEGNER, Frithiof Saga (Spalding’s tr.).

[Footnote 1:  Wolf in the sanctuaries.]

CHAPTER XVI.

RAGNAR LODBROK.

“Last from among the Heroes one came near,
No God, but of the hero troop the chief—­
Regner, who swept the northern sea with fleets,
And ruled o’er Denmark and the heathy isles,
Living; but Ella captured him and slew;—­
A king whose fame then fill’d the vast of Heaven,
Now time obscures it, and men’s later deeds.” 

                                  MATTHEW ARNOLD, Balder Dead.

[Sidenote:  Ragnar Lodbrok saga.] Ragnar Lodbrok, who figures in history as the contemporary of Charlemagne, is one of the great northern heroes, to whom many mythical deeds of valor are ascribed.  His story has given rise not only to the celebrated Ragnar Lodbrok saga, so popular in the thirteenth century, but also to many poems and songs by ancient scalds and modern poets.  The material of the Ragnar Lodbrok saga was probably largely borrowed from the Volsunga saga and from the saga of Dietrich von Bern, the chief aim of the ancient composers being to connect the Danish dynasty of kings with the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir, and thereby to prove that their ancestor was no less a person than Odin.

The hero of this saga was Ragnar, the son of Sigurd Ring and his first wife, Alfild.  According to one version of the story, as we have seen, Sigurd Ring married Ingeborg, and died, leaving Frithiof to protect his young son.  According to another, Sigurd Ring appointed Ragnar as his successor, and had him recognized as future ruler by the Thing before he set out upon his last military expedition.