The Chipley banner. (Chipley, Washington County, Fla.) 1893-1943, 1897-09-18

the northern sea ! sit by the dim
ne Of my lamp, while the nigh. wind
BIS without, and across these lean,
b hands, these palsied, knotted
kers that tremble like the white
zen leaves, lies fair braid OF yellow
r. Long, long it seems since that
I'D was cut from the head that grew
Long, long months Of pain and days
regrettlng have passed since that
and was cut from its wearer; the
sea has dlmmed it, time has touched
luster, and the dark stain OF blood Is
pu 1t, yet as I, the monk Ulla,
Be that fair thing again and again to
lips and press 1t where naught but
sign Of the new faith should BIO
kssed-press it trembling and silently
those cold lips-something Of the old
e shoots through my shrunken veins
hething OF the strong passion that
be nerved them tingles into those
hered fingers that smooth that gleam-
toy SO tenderly, and white mist
es to my dull eyes. and my head
oops forward, and the little cell seems
dening out as wide as life itself; and
as the sound OF the wind among
3e trees, desolate as the beat OF the
bless pulse Of the sea upon tho rim of
night comes to my lonely heart the
DO OF long ago.
u was ia the time OF my master, Half
the Black, and I was Norway jarl
\ lived by the white lip OF the sea in
dersuud. / was young then, l was
freely twenty, and had herds and mon
farms all the way up the wild coast
far up as fair Hitteren, and long
lay In the creep by my homestead,
boar hounds lay on the rushes by my
enook, and my bows and spears lay
The tressels, and a hundred jolly fell
b drank from my flowing horns and
red my meats each day, and were
bid to call me lord and leader. Three
es as many stocked my yellow har-
b and filed my barns. And was
ing and tall and big OF limb, and al
bgh was So young l had already
twice abroad and had harried
ss the wide sea in distant Fareyjar
down south to Ljodhus. / had
ID the glorious wine Of battle. and
Dhed the red fame Of burning thorp
tower leap up to heaven from my
teps. Princes had courted me and
10 bad sung; everything had,
thing that lold heart could hope
q strong hand reach-everything
ne; the chair on my left hand still
empty at the feast, no bright eyes
med Ulla returning victorious from
b, no tall Norway maid tempered
her presence the rude revelry In
hers hall, for Ulla was unwed.
Il was not for lack Of fitting
for our maids were straight as
spruces, supple as the yellow
by the tarns and fair as the
1howere OF the fields when the
~ ow rolls back from them, and
such might have had for the
[14 Thoralla there was, for in
ru6& whose locks were as yellow as
= sipe hill barley: and Unn, whose
blue eyes shone wondrously kindly
4ker handsome neighbor when they
In shady forest path; and Thyn the
u, whose mother thought the lands Of
y and their own would well match
5ether. and Thora the smiler and
my another. But l was Wild and
Inward, and as difficult to net as the
be blue hawks that sail along the clih
&c In sprlngtime.
Matters were like this whep my
aste-, King Halfdan, more easily per-
aided, had determined to marry the
,mely Ragnhild, daughter OF Harold
oldbe ard, and. everything having becu
titled by the ambassadors, one day In
IrIy summer from ell the isles and
ords and every river town and noun
In fat came trooping the Norway lords
Id chiefs to honor the ceremonial and
70 the show. By Frigga's self that
az day, when ali those cavaliers came
ding down to the plain by the southern
ty. and 30 far as the eye could see the
eadows were aglisten with spear and
,lrass and winged helms. and every
ay was blocked with mighty men in
Tins and golden armor, strong. sons o.