This was the only thing which would not have misliked me, if thou hadst asked leave to go away. But now stay here awhile with me, till the ships are being got ready.”
So Audun stayed. But, one day, when the Spring was near at hand, King Sweyn went down from the town to the landing-place, and then they saw men busy fitting out their ships for various lands: East to Russia, or to Saxony, to Sweden, or to Norway. So Audun and the king came to a fair ship, and men were hard at work on her: she was a merchantman of fine size.
Then the king said, “What thinkest thou, Audun, of this ship?”
He said, “She was fine enough.”
“Now,” said the king, “I will repay thee for the bear, and give thee this ship with a full lading of all that I know is handiest in Iceland.”
Audun thanked the king as well as he could, for this gift; but when time went on, and the ship was ready for sea, they two went down again to the strand, King Sweyn and Audun. Then the king spoke:
“Since thou wilt go away from me, Icelander, nothing shall now be done to hinder thee; but I have heard tell that your land is ill off for havens, and that there are great shoals and risks for ships; and now, if things do not turn out well, it may be that thy ship goes to pieces, and thy lading will be lost, little then will be left to show that thou hast met King Sweyn, and given him a thing of great price.”
As he said this, the king put into his hand a big leathern bag full of silver, and said: “Thou wilt not be now altogether penniless, though thy ship goes to pieces, if thou only holdest this.”
“May be, too,” the king went on to say, “that thou losest this money also, what good will it then have been to thee that thou gavest King Sweyn thy treasure?”
As he said this, the king drew a ring of gold from his arm, and gave it to Audun; that was a thing of costly price, and the king went on:
“Though things go so ill, that thy ship goes to pieces, and all thy goods and money be lost, still thou wilt not be penniless, if thou comest to land with this ring, for it is often the wont of men to bear their gold about them, when they are in risk of shipwreck, and so it will be seen that thou hast met King Sweyn Wolfson, if thou holdest fast the ring, though thou losest the rest of thy goods. And now I will give thee this bit of advice, never to part with this ring, for I wish thee to enjoy it to the uttermost, unless thou thinkest thyself bound to repay so much goodness to some great man as to deem it right that thou shouldest give him a great treasure. When thou findest such a one give him the ring, for it is worth a great man’s while to own it; and, now, farewell, and luck follow thy voyage.” That was what King Sweyn said.
After that Audun put to sea, and ran into a Haven in Norway, and as soon as he heard where King Harold was he set out to find him, as he had given his word. So Audun came before King Harold and greeted him, and the king took his greeting kindly.
“Sit here now and drink with us,” said the king.
So Audun sat and drank. Then King Harold asked, “Well, how did King Sweyn repay thee for the white bear?”
“In that wise, lord,” says Audun, “that he took it when I gave it.”
“In that wise I had repaid thee myself,” says the king. “What more did he give thee?”
“He gave me silver to go south.”
The king answers: “King Sweyn has given many a man before now silver to go south, or to help his need, though he had not brought him things of price. What hast thou more to say?”
“He asked me,” answers Audun, “to become his henchman, and to give me great honour if I stayed with him.”
“That was well spoken,” says the king; “but he must have repaid thee with more still.”
Audun said: “He gave me a big merchantman, full laden with the best of freight.”
“That was a noble gift,” says the king, “but I would have given thee as much; or did he give thee anything more?”
Audun answers: “He gave me besides, a leathern bag full of silver, and said I would not then be penniless if I held fast to it, though my ship went to pieces off Iceland.”
“That was nobly thought of,” answers the king, “and that I would not have done. I should have thought myself free if I had given thee ship and lading. Gave he ought besides?”
“Yes, lord, he did,” says Audun: “he gave me this ring which I have on my arm, and said it might so happen that I lost all my goods and the ship too, and yet he said I should not be penniless if I still had the ring. He bade me also not to part with the ring unless I thought that I owed so much to some great man for his goodness that I ought to give it him; but now I have found that man, for it was in your choice, lord, to take my bear from me, and my life too, but you let me go in peace to Denmark when no one else could get thither.”
The king took the ring blithely, and gave Audun good gifts in return before they parted. So Audun sailed to Iceland that very summer, and all thought him the luckiest of men.
SNAKES AND THEIR PREY.
AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE.
