Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race
loyally and treat them well. But ye do not know how he kept his oath!
The false traitor slew both the maidens, and would have slain the boy,
but for pity he would not kill the child with his own hands. He bade a
fisherman drown him in the sea; but when the good man knew that it was
the rightful heir, he saved the boy's life and fled with him to
England, where Havelok has been brought up for many years. And now,
behold! here he stands. In all the world he has no peer, and ye may
well rejoice in the beauty and manliness of your king. Come now and
pay homage to Havelok, and I myself will be your leader!"
Jarl Ubbe turned to Havelok, where he stood with Goldborough beside
him, and knelt before him to do homage, an example which was followed
by all present. At a second and still larger assembly held a fortnight
later a similar oath of fealty was sworn by all, Havelok was dubbed
knight by the noble Ubbe, and a great festival was celebrated, with
sports and amusements for the populace. A council of war and vengeance
was held with the great nobles.
The Death of Godard
Havelok, now acknowledged King of Denmark, was unsatisfied until he had
punished the treacherous Godard, and he took a solemn oath from his
soldiers that they would never cease the search for the traitor till
they had captured him and brought him bound to judgment. After all,
Godard was captured as he was hunting. Grim's three sons, now knighted
by King Havelok, met him in the forest, and bade him come to the king,
who called on him to remember and account for his treatment of
Birkabeyn's children. Godard struck out furiously with his fists, but
Sir Robert the Red wounded him in the right arm. When Godard's men
joined in the combat, Robert and his brothers soon slew ten of their
adversaries, and the rest fled; returning, ashamed at the bitter
reproaches of their lord, they were all slain by Havelok's men. Godard
was taken, bound hand and foot, placed on a miserable jade with his
face to the tail, and so led to Havelok. The king refused to be the
judge of his own cause, and entrusted to Ubbe the task of presiding at
the traitor's trial. No mercy was shown to the cruel Jarl Godard, and
he was condemned to a traitor's death, with torments of terrible
barbarity. The sentence was carried out to the letter, and Denmark
rejoiced in the punishment of a cruel villain.
Death of Godrich
Meanwhile Earl Godrich of Cornwall had heard with great uneasiness
that Havelok had become King of Denmark, and intended to invade
England with a mighty army to assert his wife's right to the throne.
He recognised that his own device to shame Goldborough had turned
against him, and that he must now fight for his life and the usurped
dominion he held over England. Godrich summoned his army to Lincoln
for the defence of the realm against the Danes, and called out every
man fit to bear weapons, on pain of becoming thrall if they failed
him. Then he thus addressed them:
"Friends, listen to my words, and you will know
'Tis not for sport, nor idle show, that I
Have bidden you to meet at Lincoln here.
Lo! here at Grimsby foreigners are come
Who have already won the Priory.
These Danes are cruel heathen, who destroy
Our churches and our abbeys: priests and nuns
They torture to the death, or lead away
To serve as slaves the haughty Danish jarls.
Now, Englishmen, what counsel will ye take?
If we submit, they will rule all our land,
Will kill us all, and sell our babes for thralls,
Will take our wives and daughters for their own.
Help me, if ever ye loved English land,
To fight these heathen and to cleanse our soil
From hateful presence of these alien hordes.
I make my vow to God and all the saints
I will not rest, nor houseled be, nor shriven,
Until our realm be free from Danish foe!
Accursed be he who strikes no blow for home!"
The army was inspired with valour by these courageous words, and the
march to Grimsby began at once, with Earl Godrich in command.
Havelok's men marched out gallantly to meet them, and when the battle
joined many mighty deeds of valour were done, especially by the king
himself, his foster-brothers, and Jarl Ubbe. The battle lasted long
and was very fierce and bloody, but the Danes gradually overcame the
resistance of the English, and at last, after a great hand-to-hand
conflict, King Havelok captured Godrich. The traitor earl, who had
lost a hand in the fray, was sent bound and fettered to Queen
Goldborough, who kept him, carefully guarded, until he could be tried
by his peers, since (for all his treason) he was still a knight.
When the English recognised their rightful lady and queen they did
homage with great joy, begging mercy for having resisted their lawful
ruler at the command of a wicked traitor; and the king and queen
pardoned all but Godrich, who was speedily brought to trial at
Lincoln. He was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, and the sentence
was carried out amid general rejoicings.
Now that vengeance was satisfied, Havelok and his wife thought of
recompensing the loyal helpers who had believed in them and supported
them through the long years of adversity. Havelok married one of
Grim's daughters to the Earl of Chester, and the other to Bertram, the
good cook, who became Earl of Cornwall in the place of the felon
Godrich and his disinherited children; the heroic Ubbe was made Regent
of Denmark for Havelok, who decided to stay and rule England, and all
the noble Danish warriors were rewarded with gifts of gold, and lands
and castles. After a great coronation feast, which lasted for forty
days, King Havelok dismissed the Danish regent and his followers, and
after sad farewells they returned to their own country. Havelok and
Goldborough ruled England in peace and security for sixty years, and
lived together in all bliss, and had fifteen children, who all became
mighty kings and queens.
CHAPTER VI: HOWARD THE HALT
Introduction
In every society and in all periods the obligations of family
affection and duty to kinsmen have been recognised as paramount. In
the early European communities a man's first duty was to stand by his
kinsman in strife and to avenge him in death, however unrighteous the
kinsman's quarrel might be.
How pitiful is the aged Priam's lament that he must needs kiss the
hands that slew his dear son Hector, and, kneeling, clasp the knees of
his son's murderer! How sad is Cuchulain's plaint that his son Connla
must go down to the grave unavenged, since his own father slew him,
all unwitting! One remembers, too, Beowulf's words: "Better it is for
every man that he avenge his friend than that he mourn him much!"
Since, then, family affection, the laws of honour and duty, and every
recognised standard of life demanded that a kinsman should obtain a
full wergild (or money payment) for his relative's death, unless he
chose to take up the blood-feud against the murderer's family, we can
hardly wonder that some of the heroes of early European literature are
heroes of vengeance. Orestes and Electra are Greek embodiments of the
idea of the sacredness of vengeance for murdered kinsfolk, and similar
feelings are revealed in Gudrun's revenge for the murder of Siegfried
in the "Nibelungenlied." To the Teutonic or Celtic warrior there would
be heroism of a noble type in a just vengeance fully accomplished, and
this heroism would be more easily recognised when the wrongdoer was
rich and powerful, the avenger old, poor, and friendless. While
admitting that the hero of vengeance belongs to and represents only
one side of the civilisation of a somewhat barbaric community, we
must allow that the elements of dogged perseverance, dauntless
courage, and resolute loyalty in some degree redeemed the ferocity and
cruelty of the blood-feud he waged against the ill-doer.
It is certain that in the popular Icelandic saga of "Howard the Halt"
tradition has recorded with minute detail of approbation the story of
a man and woman, old, weak, friendless, who, in spite of terrible
odds, succeeded in obtaining a late but sufficing vengeance for the
cruel slaughter of their only son, the murderer being the most
powerful man of the region. The part here assigned to the woman
indicates the firm hold which the blood-feud had gained on the
imagination of the Norsemen.
Icelandic Ghosts
The story possesses a further interest as revealing the unique
character of the Icelandic ghost or phantom. In other literatures the
spirit returned from the dead is a thin, immaterial, disembodied
essence, a faint shadow of its former self; in Icelandic legend the
spirit returns in full possession of its body, but more evil-disposed
to mankind than before death. It fights and wrestles, pummels its
adversary black and blue, it is huge and bloated and hideous, it tries
to strangle men, and leaves finger-marks on their throats. If the
ghosts are those of drowned men, they come home every night dripping
with sea-water, and crowd the family from the fire and from the hall.
Apparently they are evil spirits animating the dead body, and nothing
but the utter destruction of the body avails to drive away the
malignant spirit.
The Story. Howard and Thorbiorn
Thus runs the saga of "Howard the Halt":
About the year 1000, when the Christian faith had hardly yet been
heard of in Iceland, there dwelt at Bathstead, on the shores of
Icefirth, in that far-distant land a mighty chieftain, of royal
descent and great wealth, named Thorbiorn. Though not among the first
settlers of Iceland, he had appropriated much unclaimed land, and was
one of the leading men of the country-side, but was generally disliked
for his arrogance and injustice. Thorkel, the lawman and arbitrator of
Icefirth, was weak and easily cowed, so Thorbiorn's wrongdoing
remained unchecked; many a maiden had he betrothed to himself, and
afterwards rejected, and many a man had he ousted from his lands, yet
no redress could be obtained, and no man was bold enough to attack so
great a chieftain or resist his will. Thorbiorn's house at Bathstead
was one of the best in the district, and his lands stretched down to
the shores of the firth, where he had made a haven with a jetty for
ships. His boathouse stood a little back above a ridge of shingle, and
beside a deep pool or lagoon. The household of Thorbiorn included
Sigrid, a fair maiden, young and wealthy, who was his housekeeper;
Vakr, an ill-conditioned and malicious fellow, Thorbiorn's nephew; and
a strong and trusted serving-man named Brand. Besides these there were
house-carles in plenty, and labourers, all good fighting-men.
Not far from Bathstead, at Bluemire, dwelt an old Viking called
Howard. He was of honourable descent, and had won fame in earlier
Viking expeditions, but since he had returned lamed and nearly
helpless from his last voyage he had aged greatly, and men called him
Howard the Halt. His wife, Biargey, however, was an active and
stirring woman, and their only son, Olaf, bade fair to become a
redoubtable warrior. Though only fifteen, Olaf had reached full
stature, was tall, fair, handsome, and stronger than most men. He wore
his fair hair long, and always went bareheaded, for his great bodily
strength defied even the bitter winter cold of Iceland, and he faced
the winds clad in summer raiment only. With all his strength and
beauty, Olaf was a loving and obedient son to Howard and Biargey, and
the couple loved him as the apple of their eye.
Olaf Meets Sigrid
The men of Icefirth were wont to drive their sheep into the mountains
during the summer, leave them there till autumn, and then, collecting
the scattered flocks, to restore to each man his own branded sheep.
One autumn the flocks were wild and shy, and it was found that many