The Long Ships

CHAPTER EIGHT

CONCERNING THE SINFUL MAGISTER’S SECOND SIN AND THE PENANCE TO WHICH HE WAS CONDEMNED FOR IT

TO continue with my story,” proceeded the magister in a melancholy voice, “I must tell you that not far from Hedeby there dwells a woman by the name of Thordis. She is of noble birth, and is one of the richest women in those parts, with broad estates and many herds; and she was born and brought up a heathen. Because of her wealth, she has been married three times, though she is still but young; and all her husbands have died violent deaths in wars or feuds. When the third was killed, she fell into a deep melancholy and came of her own accord to Bishop Eckard to tell him that she desired to seek help from God. The Bishop himself instructed her in the Christian doctrine and subsequently baptized her; after which she attended Mass regularly, riding to church at the head of a large procession of followers with as much noise and clanging of weapons as any warchieftain. Her pride was great and her temper refractory, and at first she refused to allow her followers to divest themselves of their weapons before entering the church; for if they did so, she said, they would make a poor show as they marched down the aisle. Eventually, however, the Bishop succeeded in persuading her to consent to this; and he bade us treat her always with the utmost patience, because she was in a position to do much good to God’s holy Church. Nor can I deny that she came several times to the Bishop with rich gifts. But she was difficult to handle, and especially so toward me. For she had no sooner set eyes on me than she conceived a fierce passion for my body, and on one occasion after Mass she waited alone for me in the porch and asked me to bless her. I did so; whereupon she allowed her eyes to roam over my body and told me that if I would only pay some attention to my hair and beard, as a man should do, I would be fitted for higher duties than that of conducting Mass. ‘You are welcome to visit my house whenever you please,’ she added, ‘and I shall see to it that you do not regret your visit.’ Then she seized me by the ears and kissed me shamelessly, though my deacon was standing beside us; and so I was left in great bewilderment and terror. By God’s help, I had by now become strong at resisting the temptations of women and was determined to conduct myself unimpeachably; besides which, she was not so beautiful as the two women who had led me astray in Maastricht. I had, therefore, no fears of being seduced by her; but I was alarmed lest she might act crazily, and it was a great misfortune that the good Bishop Eckard happened to be away at this time, at a church conference at Mainz. I persuaded the deacon to say nothing of what he had seen, though he laughed much about it in his ignorance and folly; and that evening I prayed to God to help me against this woman. When I rose from my prayers, I felt wonderfully strengthened, and decided that she must have been sent to show me how well I was now able to resist the temptations of the flesh. But the next time she came to the church, I found myself no less fearful of her than before; and while the choir was still singing, I fled as fast as I could into the sacristy, that I might avoid meeting her. But, disdaining all modesty, she pursued me and caught me before I could leave the church, and inquired why I had not been to visit her, despite her invitation that I should do so. I replied that my time was wholly occupied with important duties. ‘Nothing can be more important than this,’ she said, ‘for you are the man I wish to marry, though you are one of the shaven sort; and I should have thought that you would have had better sense than to let me sit and wait for you to come to me, after the evidence I had given you of my affection.’ By this time I was greatly confused and could not at first think of any more courageous reply than that, for various reasons, I could not leave the church while the Bishop was absent. Then, however, my courage rose, and I told her in a determined manner that marriage was not a pleasure in which the servants of Christ could indulge, and that the blessed fathers of the Church would not approve of a woman entering upon marriage for the fourth time. She grew pale as I addressed her, and came menacingly nearer to me while I was yet speaking. ‘Are you a gelding?’ she said, ‘or am I too old to excite you?’ She looked very dangerous in her wrath, so I seized a crucifix and held it before her and began to pray that the evil spirit might be driven out of her; but she snatched it from my hand so violently that she fell over backwards and struck her head against the great robe-chest. But she leaped instantly to her feet, crying loudly for help; and I—I know not what I did. Then my destiny, from which there is no escape, was further fulfilled; for in the fight that now ensued, in the church and the porch and in the square outside, between her men, who were trying to help her, and good men from the town, who were trying to help me, men were killed on both sides, including a subdeacon, who had his head cut off by a sword, and Canon Andreas, who came rushing out of the Bishop’s palace to stop the fight and received a stone on the skull, from which he died the next day. At last the woman was driven off, together with such of her followers as were still able to run; but my despair was great when I surveyed the scene of the battle and reflected that two priests had been killed because of me. When Bishop Eckard returned and heard the news, he found that I was mostly to blame; for, he said, he had strictly ordered that the woman Thordis was to be handled with the utmost care and patience by us all, and I had disobeyed that instruction. I ought, he said, to have complied with her wishes. I begged him to condemn me to the severest possible punishment, for the thought of my sin pained me grievously, even though I knew that I could not have avoided it. I told him of the wisewoman’s prophecy and how I had now committed the second of the three sins of which I was fated to be the author. The Bishop said that he would prefer that I should not be at Hedeby when the time came for me to commit the third; and at last they thought of a fit penance for me to undergo. He bade me make a pilgrimage northwards to the country of the wild Smalanders, to ransom from them God’s zealous servant Father Sebastian, who three years ago was sent to preach the gospel to them, ever since when he has languished there in bitter serfdom. Thither am I now bound, and this is the mission on which I have come. Now you know as much as I do about me and my misfortunes.”

With this he ended his story. Ylva laughed and gave him more ale.

“It seems that you are unlucky with women, whichever way you treat them,” she said, “despite all that you have read in the book which tells everything about the art of love. And I do not think you will be likely to have better success with them in these parts.”

But Magister Rainald replied that he was done with all such vanity.

“You must be a very foolish man in more respects than one,” said Orm, “and your holy Bishop too, if you think you have any hope of ransoming your priest from the Smalanders, or even of escaping from them with your life, without the aid of silver and gold.”

The magister shook his head and smiled sorrowfully.

“I have no gold or silver,” he said, “for I do not intend to offer metal to the Smalanders in exchange for Father Sebastian. I wish to offer myself to be their slave in place of him. I am younger than he, and stronger, so that I think they will agree to the exchange. By this means I hope to atone in some measure for causing the deaths of the two priests.”

They were all amazed at this reply and at first refused to believe that he could be serious in what he said. But the magister swore that this was so.

“I think I am as good a Christian as most men,” said Orm, “but I would rather commit all manner of sins than offer myself as a thrall.”

Father Willibald said that such Christian zeal was not what every man might feel, but that the magister was acting rightly.

“Your thralldom will not last for long,” he added, “for there are now no more than five years left before Christ shall return to the earth, according to the best calculations. If, therefore, you avoid women and meet no further misfortunes at their hands, it may be that you will succeed in baptizing many Smalanders before that day arrives, in which case you will be able to appear with a calm conscience before the judgment throne of God.”

“What you say is true,” replied the magister, “and the same thought has occurred to me. But the worst is that I still have my third sin to commit, and the wisewoman said that this would be the most heinous of all.”

None of them could think of any comfort to offer him, but Orm said that he hoped it would be some time before this third sin might be due.

“For I should not like you to commit it while you are a guest in my house,” he said. “But be sure of this, priest, and you, too, Spjalle, and both you Irish masters, that you are welcome to stay in my house for as long as you please.”

“That is my wish also,” said Ylva.

They thanked them both for this invitation, but Spjalle said that he could not accept for more than a few days.

“For I must not loiter on my journey,” he explained, “with the luck of the Kings of Sweden bound to my leg.”

Both the jesters said that they would go with Spjalle, since they, too, were heading for Uppsala. If they did not find things to their satisfaction there, there were other kings elsewhere who would make them welcome.

“We can go to Norway,” they said, “where Olaf Tryggvasson is now King; for he is said to have become a zealous Christian. Or we could voyage to the Eastland, to Prince Valdemar of Gardarike, who has a great name for power and wealth, and is said to be well disposed toward men skillful in the arts.”

“That will be a long journey for you to travel,” said Orm.

“We have no home,” they replied, “and it is our life to wander over the earth; but where kings are, thither will we gladly journey, for all kings welcome us. Beyond Gardarike is the kingdom of Basil, him whom they call the Hammer of the Bulgars, and who is the most powerful of all the monarchs in the world, now that King Harald and King Erik are dead; though it may be that the young Emperor of Germany would be displeased to hear us say so, and King Brian, too, who rules in Ireland now. We have heard it said by far-traveled men that the jesters of the Emperor in Miklagard have a great name and can perform marvelous feats; men speak especially of a performance they gave before the envoys of the old German Emperor, in the days when Nikeforos ruled at Miklagard. They are said to have climbed miraculously upon a pole; and this is a trick new to us, though we reckon that we know more tricks than most men. It might, therefore, be worth our while to journey there to see how skillful they really are, and to show them what the Erin Masters can perform. It would, besides, be a great honor for us to jest before the Emperor Basil, and for him to receive a visit from us. But first we shall go to Uppsala, to the young King there, and we think it best that we should travel there in Spjalle’s company. For he is a good man to go a-begging with.”

They held to this decision; and after a few days, when he had regained his strength, Spjalle once again bound his royal sword to his leg, and he and the two masters took up their sacks and beggars’ staffs. Asa and Ylva gave them fine fare for their journey, so that they said they had small hope of encountering again such hospitality as it had been their fortune to receive here at Gröning.

As they parted, Felimid said to Orm: “If we should meet again, you may be sure that you will always have good friends in us.”

“I dearly hope that we may meet again,” said Orm. “But if you set forth for Miklagard, I fear my hope is not likely to be fulfilled. For I shall remain here, a man of peace, watching my children grow and my herds fatten, and shall never wander across the seas any more.”

“Who knows?” said the small, long-eared men. “Who can tell?”

They wagged their heads, received a blessing from Father Willibald, and departed with Spjalle on their journey.

But Magister Rainald remained with Orm for a while longer, it having been decided that this was the wisest thing for him to do. They all agreed that it would be madness for him to go alone across the border to look for Father Sebastian, for if he did so, he would be caught or killed without achieving anything. So it was decided that he should stay at Gröning until the time arrived for the border peoples to hold their great annual conference, which they called Thing, at the Kraka Stone; for the time for this was shortly due. At the Thing, said Orm, they might be able to come to some agreement with the Smalanders about the matter on which his mind was set.