Part 7 (1/2)

”But Loki laughed in silence, and swift in G.o.dhead went, To the golden hall of Reidmar and the house of our content.

But when that world of treasure was laid within our hall 'Twas as if the sun were minded to live 'twixt wall and wall, And all we stood by and panted. Then Odin spake and said:

”'O Kings, O folk of the Dwarf-kind, lo, the ransom duly paid!

Will ye have this sun of the ocean, and reap the fruitful field, And garner up the harvest that earth therefrom shall yield.'

”So he spake; but a little season nought answered Reidmar the wise, But turned his face from the Treasure, and peered with eager eyes Endlong the hall and athwart it, as a man may chase about A ray of the sun of the morning that a naked sword throws out; And lo from Loki's right-hand came the flash of the fruitful ring, And at last spake Reidmar scowling: 'Ye wait for my yea-saying That your feet may go free on the earth, and the fear of my toils may be done; That then ye may say in your laughter: The fools of the time agone!

The purblind eyes of the Dwarf-kind! they have gotten the garnered sheaf And have let their Masters depart with the Seed of Gold and of Grief: O Loki, friend of Allfather, cast down Andvari's ring, Or the world shall yet turn backward and the high heavens lack a king.'

”Then Loki drew off the Elf-ring and cast it down on the heap, And forth as the gold met gold did the light of its glory leap: But he spake: 'It rejoiceth my heart that no whit of all ye shall lack.

Lest the curse of the Elf-king cleave not, and ye 'scape the utter wrack.'

Then Regin loosed the shackles of the G.o.ds and they departed into the night, but Odin stayed in the doorway and thus he spake: ”Why do ye thus desire treasure and take sorrow to yourselves? Know ye not that I was before your fathers' fathers, and that I can foresee your fate, and the end of the gold ye covet? I am the Wise One who ordereth all.”

Then they went, but Regin afterwards often recalled Odin's words and the evening filled with the gleam of the gold, but little cared he then, so well he loved the gold. And he prayed his father to keep the treasure, but give a little unto him and Fafnir for the help they had given him that day.

His father in no wise heeded his words, but sat ever on his ivory throne, staring moodily at the gold. But Fafnir grew fierce and grim as he watched him.

”The night waned into the morning, and still above the h.o.a.rd Sat Reidmar clad in purple; but Fafnir took his sword, And I took my smithying-hammer, and apart in the world we went; But I came aback in the even, and my heart was heavy and spent; And I longed, but fear was upon me and I durst not go to the Gold; So I lay in the house of my toil mid the things I had fas.h.i.+oned of old; And methought as I lay in my bed 'twixt waking and slumber of night That I heard the tinkling metal and beheld the hall alight, But I slept and dreamed of the G.o.ds, and the things that never have slept, Till I woke to a cry and a clas.h.i.+ng and forth from the bed I leapt, And there by the heaped-up Elf-gold my brother Fafnir stood, And there at his feet lay Reidmar and reddened the Treasure with blood; And e'en as I looked on his eyen they glazed and whitened with death, And forth on the torch-litten hall he shed his latest breath.

”But I looked on Fafnir and trembled for he wore the Helm of Dread, And his sword was bare in his hand, and the sword and the hand were red With the blood of our father Reidmar, and his body was wrapped in gold, With the ruddy-gleaming mailcoat of whose fellow hath nought been told, And it seemed as I looked upon him that he grew beneath mine eyes: And then in the mid-hall's silence did his dreadful voice arise:

”'I have slain my father Reidmar, that I alone might keep The Gold of the darksome places, the Candle of the Deep.

I am such as the G.o.ds have made me, lest the Dwarf-kind people the earth, Or mingle their ancient wisdom with its short-lived latest birth.

I shall dwell alone henceforward, and the Gold and its waxing curse, I shall brood on them both together, let my life grow better or worse.

And I am a King henceforward and long shall be my life, And the Gold shall grow with my longing, for I shall hide it from strife,'

And h.o.a.rd up the Ring of Andvari in the house thine hand hath built.

O thou, wilt thou tarry and tarry, till I cast thy blood on the guilt?

Lo, I am a King for ever, and alone on the Gold shall I dwell And do no deed to repent of and leave no tale to tell.'

”More awful grew his visage as he spake the word of dread, And no more durst I behold him, but with heart a-cold I fled; I fled from the glorious house my hands had made so fair, As poor as the new-born baby with nought of raiment or gear: I fled from the heaps of gold, and my goods were the eager will, And the heart that remembereth all, and the hand that may never be still.

”Then unto this land I came, and that was long ago.

As men-folk count the years; and I taught them to reap and to sow,

”And I grew the master of masters--Think thou how strange it is That the sword in the hands of a stripling shall one day end all this!

”Yet oft mid all my wisdom did I long for my brother's part, And Fafnir's mighty kings.h.i.+p weighed heavy on my heart When the Kings of the earthly kingdoms would give me golden gifts From out of their scanty treasures, due pay for my cunning s.h.i.+fts.

And once--didst thou number the years thou wouldst think it long ago-- I wandered away to the country from whence our stem did grow.