"What did you mean by those words, Freydisa?" I asked when he was gone.

"Little or much," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Iduna is
lovely, is she not, and Steinar is handsome, is he not, and of an age
when man seeks woman, and what is brotherhood when man seeks woman and
woman beguiles man?"

"Peace to your riddles, Freydisa. You forget that Iduna is my betrothed
and that Steinar was fostered with me. Why, I'd trust them for a week at
sea alone."

"Doubtless, Olaf, being young and foolish, as you are; also that is your
nature. Now here is the broth. Drink it, and I, whom some call a wise
woman and others a witch, say that to-morrow you may rise from this bed
and sit in the sun, if there is any."

"Freydisa," I said when I had swallowed the broth, "why do folk call you
a witch?"

"I think because I am a little less of a fool than other women, Olaf.
Also because it has not pleased me to marry, as it is held natural that
all women should do if they have the chance."

"Why are you wiser, and why have you not married, Freydisa?"

"I am wiser because I have questioned things more than most, and to
those who question answers come at last. And I am not married because
another woman took the only man I wanted before I met him. That was my
bad luck. Still, it taught me a great lesson, namely, how to wait and
meanwhile to acquire understanding."