. The book of romance; . eply of mead, and longed to revenge himselfon Wayland, whom he held to have caused the loss of hisarmy ; so he gave the key of the tower to one of his Earls,and bade him take two men and bring forth Wayland,adding that if the next time he visited the tower heshould find a grain of gold missing, they should pay forit with their lives. The three men got a boat, and rowed towards thetower, but on the way one who, like the King, had drunktoo much mead, fell into the sea and was drowned. Theother two reached the tower in safety, and findingWayland, blackened with dust, busy
. The book of romance; . eply of mead, and longed to revenge himselfon Wayland, whom he held to have caused the loss of hisarmy ; so he gave the key of the tower to one of his Earls,and bade him take two men and bring forth Wayland,adding that if the next time he visited the tower heshould find a grain of gold missing, they should pay forit with their lives. The three men got a boat, and rowed towards thetower, but on the way one who, like the King, had drunktoo much mead, fell into the sea and was drowned. Theother two reached the tower in safety, and findingWayland, blackened with dust, busy at his forge, badehim come just as he was to the boat. With his handsbound they led him before the King, and Eyvind theEarl bowed low and said, We have done your desire,Sir King, and must now hasten back to look for Gullorm,who fell into the sea. Leave him where he is/ replied Nidud; if he is notdrowned by now he will never drown at all, but in tokenof your obedience to my orders I will give you each thesegolden WAYLAND MOCKED &Y thl QUEIEN AND BANVILDA WAYLAND THE SMITH 313 The guests had not thought to see the man who hadmade such wonderful armour helpless and a cripple, andsaid so to the King. He was once handsome and statelyenough/ answered Nidud, but I have bowed his stubbornhead. And the Queen and her daughter joined in saying, The maidens of Finland will hardly fancy a lover whocannot stand upright. But Wayland stood as if he heardnothing till the Kings son snatched a bone from the tableand threw it at his head. Then his patience gave way,and, seizing the bone, he beat Nidud about the head withit till the straps of the helmet gave way and the helmetitself fell off. The guests all took his side, and said that,though a cripple, he was braver than many men whoselegs were straight, and begged the King to allow him togo back to his prison without being teased further. Butthe King cried that Wayland had done mischief enough,and must now be punished, and told them the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectarthurk, bookyear1902
