out Hagbarth to be executed before the window
of the princess's apartment, in order to add the
greater sting to his punishment. But Signa,
who had vowed not to survive her lover, set
fire to her chamber and perished in the flames.
When Hagbarth saw this proof of her devotion,
he besought his executioners to hasten his
death, that he might the quicker rejoin her
faithful spirit in the Halls of Valhalla.

The passion for maritime adventure seems to
have animated the female breast into rivalry
with the opposite sex, for many ladies of high
birth exchanged the veil for a heavy coat of
linked armour and a brazen helmet. Placing
themselves at the head of a band of pirates, they
became Skjöld-Meyar, Maidens of the Shield,
distinguished as much for bravery in battle as
for chastity and gentleness at home.

The wooing of a sea-queen was a
hazardous business. Laying siege to her heart
or attempting to captivate her affections was
completely futile. The only way was to
blockade her in some narrow bay, and then
engage her in single combat. Generally, as in
the case of Alfhilda, the chaste and beautiful
Ostrogoth princess, there were a couple of
notable champions guarding her person, who
had first of all to be disposed of. Alfhilda' s
lover, a young sea-king, named Alf, slew these
two in single combat. But Alfhilda was not so
easily won. Clothing herself and her maidens
in ring mail, and joining her crew of pirates,
she embarked in her swiftest vessel, and gave
Alf a year's long love chase. One after another
Alf conquered every ship of her fleet, and then
blockaded his mistress in the Gulf of Finland.
She came out to fight. Alf grappled the
maiden's ship, boarded it, and, after a terrific
hand-to-hand encounter with the queen herself,
he clove Alfhida's helmet with his axe,
disclosing her beautiful features and long flowing
hair. The sight of her beauty was too much
for her adorer. He presented her his weapons;
for he could fight no more. Alfhilda, doubly
conquered by the valour and generosity of her
lover, married him on the spot, while Alf's
best champions availed themselves of the
opportunity to take the sea-queen's maiden
attendants to wife. For the whole of the
year, in anticipation of some such result,
Alfhida had carried a priest on board to
perform the ceremony.

The legend of Wayland, the smith, who forged
the viking's most treasured sword blades, of
such admirable temper that they would cut
through rock or iron without losing the edge, is
too familiar for repetition; but it may be
mentioned, in connexion with a strange legend of
the old sea-kings, that Wayland was believed
to have married one of the Valkyriur, or
Choosers of the Slain. This was, however,
probably no more than a mythological way of
stating how keen were Wayland's sword-blades,
and how fatal in use. The Valkyriur of the
Sagas correspond to the Fates of the Greeks.

These fatal sisters chose and foretold those who
should fall in battle. They carried Odin's
message of invitation to the warriors he loved best,
to meet him in Walhalla, and they poured out
the ale and mead for the solace of the heroes
who sat round Odin's board. They visited the
slain at sea in the form of swans, and carried
the hero's soul straight to the line where the
sea and sky meet, into Odin's presence, and into
the halls of Walhalla.

The vikings found plenty of employment
for the fatal sisters, for some of their battles
were on a tremendously large scale, and
resulted in fearful slaughter. At the naval battle
of Bravalla, between Harald Golden Teeth, and
Sigurd-Ring, the usurper of the Swedish
throne, all the sea-kings and the Maidens of
the Shield ranged themselves on one side or the
other. Sigurd-Ring's fleet alone is said to have
consisted of two thousand five hundred ships,
and the number is not considered to be
exaggerated, taking into account the small capacity of
the little barks employed. There were seventy-
four champions in the Danish fleet, while the
Swedes boasted of ninety-six sea-kings,
supported by all the picked archers of Norway.
Harald, with fifteen kings and thirty thousand
of his Danes, was slain, and the Swede bought
his victory at a cost of twelve thousand of his
bravest warriors. The tumulus which marks
the burial place of the slain is said to be still
pointed out. " We did not permit the ravens
to be in want of food," says the Skald, " those
who were slain became the prey of the ravens.
We hew'd with our swords."

Dr. Taylor's Revolutions, Insurrections, and
Conspiracies of Europe, a book of patient and
scholarly research, which, for some unaccountable
reason, fell dead from the press some
twenty years ago, is the source whence most of
the preceding information is derived.

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