Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/652

 sense before the king. Then the king took up the word, and said,

“‘Do you mean to say that you have twice cast your skin?’

“‘It is quite true, sire!’ answered Vidförull.

“The king asked, ‘Do you suppose that you will cast it again?’

“‘I am sure,’ answered Vidförull, ‘that in this very month I shall have to slough it off, and that not many days hence.’

“‘How old are you wont to be,’ asked the king, ‘before you cast it?’

“Vidförull replied, ‘The time is not always the same. The first time I was aged 330, and then when I had undergone the process I was only about thirty, and I regained all the vigour of youth. . . . . Now, sire, if you wish to know my powers, and see me cast my skin, then show me a seat, and I will remain in your court a few days, till the time comes. . . . “36. . . . . The second time I cast my skin, I was aged 215; and when I found the time arrive for my change I sought Rome, where then reigned Hermanric.’ The king asked how the operation had taken place. Vidförull answered, ‘The first time it was rather strange; I was then much more vigorous, though I had lived longer, for then men’s ages were longer than they are now, and though I was over 300 years old, I was sturdy and could hunt; and one day as I was at the chase I felt thirst, and I lay down by the water with the intention of drinking; then there flew over me a dragon, which grabbed me up, and carried me off to a lofty crag, where was a cave. Then I. . . . escaped after a struggle, and fled to a beautiful plain, and there, exhausted with age, there came over me a lassitude, and then there peeled off me my first skin, as I was in a fainting fit. A little while after I revived, and I was as hale and hearty as a youth of thirty. . . 37. Now I will tell you how I cast my skin the second time. I had been a little while in Rome, and I learned by a dream that I was to undergo the change. I was then some two ells