Athalbrand when he heard this tale of rule and riches. "Why did you not
ask me for my fair daughter?" he added with a half-drunken laugh, for
all the liquor he had swallowed had got a hold of his brain. Recovering
himself, he went on: "It is my will, Thorvald, that Iduna and this snipe
of an Olaf of yours should be wed as soon as possible. I say that they
shall be wed as soon as possible, since otherwise I know not what may
happen."

Then his head fell forward on the table and he sank to sleep.



CHAPTER III

THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE

On the morrow early I lay awake, for how could I sleep when Iduna rested
beneath the same roof with me--Iduna, who, as her father had decreed,
was to become my wife sooner than I had hoped? I was thinking how
beautiful she looked, and how much I loved her; also of other things
that were not so pleasant. For instance, why did not everybody see her
with my eyes? I could not hide from myself that Ragnar went near to
hating her; more than once she had almost been the cause of a quarrel
between us. Freydisa, too, my nurse, who loved me, looked on her sourly,
and even my mother, although she tried to like her for my sake, had not
yet learned to do so, or thus it appeared to me.

When I asked her why, she replied that she feared the maid was somewhat
selfish, also too fond of drawing the eyes of men, and of the adornment
of her beauty. Of those who were dearest to me, indeed, only Steinar