The Wanderer's Necklace by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
page 42 of 341 (12%)
page 42 of 341 (12%)
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"Say, Olaf, does the man wear a necklace? I see a necklace hanging in the air above the mount, but naught else." "Yes, Iduna, he wears a necklace above his mail. How does it appear to you?" "Oh, beautiful, beautiful!" she answered. "A chain of pale gold, and hanging from it golden shells inlaid with blue, and between them green jewels that hold the moon." "That is what I see also," I said, as indeed I did. "There! All is gone." Freydisa returned and there was a strange smile on her dark face, for she had heard all our talk. "Who sleeps in that mound, Freydisa?" asked Iduna. "How can I tell, Lady, seeing that he was laid there a thousand years ago, or mayhap more? Yet a story, true or false, remains of him that I have heard. It is that he was a king of these parts, who followed a dream to the south. The dream was of a necklace, and of one who wore it. For many years he wandered, and at length returned again to this place, which had been his home, wearing the necklace. But when he saw its shore from the sea he fell down and his spirit left him. What happened to him in his wanderings none know, for the tale is lost. Only it is said that his people buried him in yonder mound still wearing his armour and the necklace he had won. There, as Olaf has seen, or thinks that he has seen but now, he stands at moonrise ere trouble comes to any of his race, and |
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