Enter OLAF TRYGVESÖN, muffled up in a gray cloak, with a broad hat on his head.
HAKON [without looking up].—My valiant Thorer Klake, hast come at last? | |
| Hast been successful? Dost thou bring to me | |
| What thou didst promise? Answer, Thorer Klake. | |
| OLAF.—All things have happened as they should, my lord; | |
| But pardon Thorer that he does not come | 5 |
| And bring himself King Olaf’s head to thee— | |
| ’T was difficult for him. Thor knows he had | |
| A sort of loathing that himself should bring it, | |
| And so he sent me. | |
| HAKON.—Well, ’t is good; away, | 10 |
| And deeply bury it in the dark earth. | |
| I will not look on it myself: my eye | |
| Bears not such sights,—they reappear in dreams. | |
| Bury the body with it. Tell thy lord | |
| That he shall come at once. | 15 |
| OLAF.—He is asleep. | |
| HAKON.—Asleep? | |
| OLAF.—A midday slumber; he lies stretched | |
| Stiffly beneath a shadowy elder-tree. | |
| HAKON.—Then wake him up. [Aside.] Asleep, Asleep, and after such | 20 |
| A deed—Ha! Thorer, I admire thee; | |
| Thou hast rare courage. [Aloud.] Thrall, go wake him up. | |
| OLAF.—But wilt thou first not look at Olaf’s head? | |
| HAKON.—No; I have said no. | |
| OLAF.—Thou dost think, my lord, | 25 |
| That perhaps it is a horrid frightful sight: | |
| It is not so, my lord; for Olaf’s head | |
| Looks fresh and sound as any in the land. | |
| HAKON.—Away, I tell thee! | |
| OLAF.—I ne’er saw the like: | 30 |
| I always heard that Hakon was a hero, | |
| Few like him in the North,—and does he fear | |
| To see a lifeless and a corpseless head? | |
| How wouldst thou tremble then, my lord, if thou | |
| Shouldst see it on his body? | 35 |
| HAKON [turning round angrily].—Thrall, thou darest! | |
| Where hast thou got it? | |
| OLAF [takes his hat off, and throws off his cloak].—On my shoulders, Earl. | |
| Forgive me that I bring it thee myself | |
| In such a way: ’t was easiest for me. | 40 |
| HAKON.—What, Olaf! Ha! what treachery is here? | |
| OLAF.—Old gray-beard, spare thy rash, heroic wrath. | |
| Attempt not to fight Olaf, but remember | |
| That he has still his head upon his body, | |
| And that thy impotent, gray-bearded strength | 45 |
| Was only fitting for the headless Olaf. | |
| HAKON [rushes at him].—Ha, Hilfheim! | |
| OLAF [strikes his sword, and says in a loud voice].—So, be quiet now, I say, | |
| And sheathe thy sword again. My followers | |
| Surround the house; my vessels are a match | 50 |
| For all of thine, and I myself have come | |
| To win the country in an honest fight. | |
| Thyself hast urged me with thy plots to do it. | |
| Thou standest like a despicable thrall | |
| In his own pitfall caught at last; but I | 55 |
| Will make no use of these advantages | |
| Which fate has granted me. I am convinced | |
| That I may boldly meet thee face to face. | |
| Thy purpose, as thou seest, has wholly failed, | |
| And in his own blood does thy Thorer swim. | 60 |
| Thou seest ’t were easy for me to have seized thee; | |
| To strike thee down were even easier still: | |
| But I the Christian doctrine do confess, | |
| And do such poor advantages despise. | |
| So choose between two courses. Still be Earl | 65 |
| Of Hlade as thou wast, and do me homage, | |
| Or else take flight; for when we meet again | |
| ’T will be the time for red and bleeding brows. | |
| HAKON [proudly and quietly].—My choice is made. I choose the latter, Olaf. | |
| Thou callest me a villain and a thrall; | 70 |
| That forces up a smile upon my lips. | |
| Olaf, one hears indeed that thou art young; | |
| It is by mockery and arrogance | |
| That one can judge thy age. Now, look at me | |
| Full in the eyes; consider well my brow: | 75 |
| Hast thou among the thralls e’er met such looks? | |
| Dost think that cunning or that cowardice | |
| Could e’er have carved these wrinkles on my brow? | |
| I did entice thee hither. Ha! ’t is true | |
| I knew that thou didst wait but for a sign | 80 |
| To flutter after the enticing bait; | |
| That in thy soul thou didst more highly prize | |
| Thy kinship with an extinct race of kings | |
| Than great Earl Hakon’s world-renownèd deeds; | |
| That thou didst watch the opportunity | 85 |
| To fall upon the old man in his rest. | |
| Does it astonish thee that I should wish | |
| Quickly to rid myself of such a foe? | |
| That I deceived a dreamer who despised | |
| The mighty gods,—does that astonish thee? | 90 |
| Does it astonish thee that I approved | |
| My warrior’s purpose, since a hostile fate | |
| Attempted to dethrone, not only me, | |
| But all Valhalla’s gods? | |
| OLAF.—Remember, Hakon,— | 95 |
| Remember, Hakon, that e’en thou thyself | |
| Hast been a Christian; that thou wast baptized | |
| By Bishop Popo, and that thou since then | |
| Didst break thy oath. How many hast thou broken? | |
| HAKON.—Accursed forever may that moment be | 100 |
| When by the cunning monk I was deceived, | |
| And let myself be fooled by paltry tricks. | |
| He held a red-hot iron in his hand, | |
| After by magic he had covered it | |
| With witches’ ointment. | 105 |
| OLAF.—O thou blind old man! | |
| Thy silver hair does make me pity thee. | |
| HAKON.—Ha! spare thy pity; as thou seest me here, | |
| Thou seest the last flash and the latest spark | |
| Of ancient Northern force and hero’s life; | 110 |
| And that, with all thy fever-stricken dreams, | |
| Proud youth, thou shalt be powerless to quench. | |
| I well do know it is the Christian custom | |
| To pity, to convert, and to amend. | |
| Our custom is to heartily despise you, | 115 |
| To ruminate upon your fall and death, | |
| As foes to gods and to a hero’s life. | |
| That Hakon does, and therein does consist | |
| His villainy. By Odin, and by Thor, | |
| Thou shalt not quench old Norway’s warlike flame | 120 |
| With all thy misty dreams of piety. | |
| OLAF.—’T is well: fate shall decide. We separate, | |
| And woe to thee when next we meet again. | |
| HAKON.—Aye, woe to me if then I crush thee not. | |
| OLAF.—Heaven shall strike thee with its fiery might! | 125 |
| HAKON.—No, with his hammer Thor the cross will smite! | |
| |
