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Page 42
_Helga_ (_shades her eyes_).--You, were beheaded ten years ago! Has the
lad Guttorm Kalfsson risen from his grave?
_Kolbein_.--Do we see apparitions in the light?
_Broddi_ (_to_ BRAND).--How did your wife Jorun come among our company?
(BRAND _leaps up on the dais and carries_ JORUN _down on his arm. About
all the hall men are heard to say in a low voice_, 'LADY JORUN.' _While
she is being carried down to the floor she extends her arms toward_
HELGA.)
_Jorun_.--Take my life as you have taken my father's and my brother's;
then you need fear no longer that I am egging on my kinsmen to avenge
me on you. (BRAND _sets her down on the floor. They embrace each other
fervently_.)
_Helga_.--Of little worth I hold your life, Jorun; but in order to
keep my promise I shall take it instead of your husband's life. (_Calls
out_.) Take my prisoner away from Brand Kolbeinsson!
_Broddi_.--Let us protect her with our bodies!
_Brand_.--Look you, Helga my kinswoman, you will not reach your
prisoner so very easily for the first. (DEACON SIGURD _picks up_ HELGI
SKAFTASON'S _axe, for he is weaponless. They take_ JORUN _in their
midst_.)
_Helga_.--To arms! Wrest my prisoner from among them!
_Broddi_.--Hold my place for a moment, my men, if it should be vacant
a short while.--Is it really so, Kolbein the Young, that your wife has
made you so senselessly mad that you are about to attack us in order to
butcher a woman?
_Kolbein_.--Lady Helga's matter this is, not mine. If we cannot reach
terms of peace, it is because of Helgi Skaftason and Alf of Grof!
_Broddi_.--And you let her attack us in order to butcher a woman?
_Kolbein_.--I let it come as it may.
_Broddi_.--Then more will have to come as it may. Be on your guard,
Kolbein!
(KOLBEIN _has been sitting in his high seat without drawing his sword,
but has had it lying on his knees and now and then unsheathed it
halfways_. BRODDI _rushes at him to deliver a blow_; KOLBEIN _dodges
the blow and grasps_ BRODDI'S _wrist with both hands, so that his sword
drops on the floor. Then he forces_ BRODDI _to sit beside him on the
high seat_.)
_Kolbein_.--Be calm now, Broddi! The slaying of Thorolf was an ill deed
and a needless one.
_Broddi_.--Let go of me, you hell-hound!
_Kolbein_ (_laughs_).--How furious you are now, brother-in-law!
_Helga_.--What fell there to the floor?
_Kolbein_.--The action for avenging Thorolf Bjarnason, which slipped
from your hands, lady!
_Helga_.--That would not have made so great a sound.
_Brand_.--Lady Helga! you who once were my mother's sister! I shall
surrender my arms and myself to you if all others will then be granted
to make atonement for the slaying of Thorolf.
_Helga_.--Keep your arms yourself, for no one does less harm with them
than you. My promise to your wife I shall keep; I wonder only that she
goes not herself voluntarily from among your midst, in order to save us
difficulties.
_Jorun_.--I cannot, for they hold me.
_Helga_ (_calls out_).--Fetch my captive Jorun from among them! (HAF
ASBJORN _and the men of_ KOLBEIN _surround_ BRAND _and his followers_.)
_Asbjorn_.--We shall set upon you now!
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