It was brought and hung on a frame of poles at the end of the niche in which I slept, that, as was usual among northern people, opened out of the hall.  I stared at it for a long while.  Then my memory came back and I asked: 

“Did the great beast kill Steinar?”

“No,” answered my mother, who sat by me.  “Steinar was sore hurt, but escaped and now is well again.”

“Let me see him with my own eyes,” I said.

So he was brought, and I looked on him.  “I am glad you live, my brother,” I said, “for know in this long sleep of mine I have dreamed that you were dead”; and I stretched out my wasted arms towards him, for I loved Steinar better than any other man.

He came and kissed me on the brow, saying: 

“Aye, thanks to you, Olaf, I live to be your brother and your thrall till the end.”

“My brother always, not my thrall,” I muttered, for I was growing tired.  Then I went to sleep again.

Three days later, when my strength began to return, I sent for Steinar and said: 

“Brother, Iduna the Fair, whom you have never seen, my betrothed, must wonder how it fares with me, for the tale of this hurt of mine will have reached Lesso.  Now, as there are reasons why Ragnar cannot go, and as I would send no mean man, I pray you to do me a favour.  It is that you will take a boat and sail to Lesso, carrying with you as a present from me to Athalbrand’s daughter the skin of that white bear, which I trust will serve her and me as a bed-covering in winter for many a year to come.  Tell her, thanks be to the gods and to the skill of Freydisa, my nurse, I live who all thought must die, and that I trust to be strong and well for our marriage at the Spring feast which draws on.  Say also that through all my sickness I have dreamed of none but her, as I trust that sometimes she may have dreamed of me.”

“Aye, I’ll go,” answered Steinar, “fast as horses’ legs and sails can carry me,” adding with his pleasant laugh:  “Long have I desired to see this Iduna of yours, and to learn whether she is as beautiful as you say; also what it is in her that Ragnar hates.”

“Be careful that you do not find her too beautiful,” broke in Freydisa, who, as ever, was at my side.

“How can I if she is for Olaf?” answered Steinar, smiling, as he left the place to make ready for his journey to Lesso.

“What did you mean by those words, Freydisa?” I asked when he was gone.

“Little or much,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.  “Iduna is lovely, is she not, and Steinar is handsome, is he not, and of an age when man seeks woman, and what is brotherhood when man seeks woman and woman beguiles man?”

“Peace to your riddles, Freydisa.  You forget that Iduna is my betrothed and that Steinar was fostered with me.  Why, I’d trust them for a week at sea alone.”

“Doubtless, Olaf, being young and foolish, as you are; also that is your nature.  Now here is the broth.  Drink it, and I, whom some call a wise woman and others a witch, say that to-morrow you may rise from this bed and sit in the sun, if there is any.”