[Illustration:  THE LOVERS AT BALDER’S SHRINE.—­Kepler.]

    “’What whisper you of Balder’s ire? 
    The pious god—­he is not wrath. 
    He loves himself, and doth inspire
    Our love—­the purest he calls forth. 
    The god with true and steadfast heart,
    The sun upon his glittering form,
    Is not his love for Nanna part
    Of his own nature, pure and warm?

    “’There is his image; he is near. 
    How mild he looks on me—­how kind! 
    A sacrifice to him I’ll bear,
    The offer of a loving mind. 
    Kneel down with me; no better gift,
    No fairer sure for Balder is,
    Than two young hearts, whose love doth lift
    Above the world almost like his.’”
                        TEGNER, Frithiof Saga (Spalding’s tr.).

Reassured by this reasoning, Ingeborg no longer refused to see and converse with Frithiof; and during the kings’ absence the young lovers met every day, and plighted their troth with Volund’s ring, which Ingeborg solemnly promised to send back to her lover should she break her promise to live for him alone.  Frithiof lingered there until the kings’ return, when, for love of Ingeborg the fair, he again appeared before them, and pledged himself to free them from their thraldom to Sigurd Ring if they would only reconsider their decision and promise him their sister’s hand.

                                   “’War is abroad,
    And strikes his echoing shield within our borders;
    Thy crown and land, King Helge, are in danger;
    Give me thy sister’s hand, and I will use
    Henceforth my warlike force in thy defense. 
    Let then the wrath between us be forgotten,
    Unwillingly I strive ’gainst Ingborg’s brother. 
    Secure, O king, by one fraternal act
    Thy golden crown and save thy sister’s heart. 
    Here is my hand.  By Thor, I ne’er again
    Present it here for reconciliation.’”
                       TEGNER, Frithiof Saga (Spalding’s tr.).

[Sidenote:  Frithiof in disgrace.] But although this offer was hailed with rapture by the assembled warriors, it was again scornfully rejected by Helge, who declared that he would have granted it had not Frithiof proved himself unworthy of all confidence by defiling the temple of the gods.  Frithiof tried to defend himself; but as he had to plead guilty to the accusation of having conversed with Ingeborg at Balder’s shrine, he was convicted of having broken the law, and, in punishment therefor, condemned to sail off to the Orkney Islands to claim tribute from the king, Angantyr.

Before he sailed, however, he once more sought Ingeborg, and vainly tried to induce her to elope with him by promising her a home in the sunny south, where her happiness should be his law, and where she should rule over his subjects as his honored wife.  Ingeborg sorrowfully refused to accompany him, saying that, since her father was no more, she was in duty bound to obey her brothers implicitly, and could not marry without their consent.