Page:Hans of Iceland (1891).djvu/215

 XVIII.

On a vast buckler those relentless men Terrified hell with fearful oaths ; And beside a black bull which they had slain, All, bathing their hands in blood, swore to be revenged.

''The Seven Chiefs before Thebes. ''

HE coast of Norway abounds in narrow bays, in creeks, coves, reefs, lagoons, and little headlands so numerous as to weary the traveller's memory and the topographer's patience. Formerly, if we are to credit popular tradition, every isthmus was haunted by some demon, each bay inhabited by some fairy, each promontory protected by some saint ; superstition mingles all beliefs to create for itself imaginary terrors. Upon Kelvel strand, some miles to the north of Walderhog cave, there was but a single spot, they said, which was free from all jurisdiction either of infernal, intermediary, or celestial